How Fascism Works

How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them is a 2018 nonfiction book by Jason Stanley, the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University.[2] Stanley, whose parents were refugees of Nazi Germany, describes strategies employed by fascist regimes, which includes normalizing the "intolerable". His book is part of a "wave of articles, books and op-eds" that warn of the "return of fascism", features of which are already evident, according to Stanley, in the politics of the United States, the Philippines, Brazil, Russia, and Hungary.[3]

How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them
AuthorJason Stanley
LanguageEnglish
GenreNon-fiction
PublisherRandom House
Publication date
September 4, 2018
Pages240
ISBN978-0-525-51183-0
OCLC1066694818
Preceded byHow Propaganda Works (2017)[1] 

In September 2020, National Public Radio took another look at fascism, and interviewed Professor Stanley, who explained that the book has been reissued with a new preface because global events have substantiated his concern that fascist rhetoric is showing up in politics and policies around the world.[4]

Content

"What normalization does is transform the morally extraordinary into the ordinary. It makes us able to tolerate what was once intolerable by making it seem as if this is the way things have always been."

— Stanley. How Fascism Works

Stanley focuses on rhetoric and propaganda. His previous books include Knowledge and Practical Interests, Language in Context, Know How and the award-winning How Propaganda Works.[5] He is a witness to the "consequences of fascism", his parents having fled Germany during the Holocaust. His maternal aunts, uncles and cousins were killed in eastern Poland in 1941 during Hitler's invasion.[6] Stanley identifies the pillars of fascist politics that deepen the divide between "us" and "them"—denying equality, using a culture of victimhood, and feeding the sexual anxiety of men. Strategies include undermining journalists and reporters, promoting anti-intellectualism, the use of propaganda, spreading conspiracy theories, letting fear and anger overtake "reasoned debate", and then calling on "law and order" solutions.[6] Stanley describes how one of the hallmarks of fascism is the "politics of hierarchy"—a belief in a biologically determined superiority—whereby fascists strive to recreate a "mythic" and "glorious" past by excluding those they believe to be inferior because of their ethnicity, religion, and/or race.[2]:13

Reviews

According to a The New York Times review, Stanley's book—a "slim volume"—"breezes across decades and continents" and says that Donald Trump "resembles other purveyors of authoritarian ultranationalism."[7] Overall, the Times gave a mixed review.[8]

The New Yorker said that How Fascism Works was popular, even though it was by an "academic philosopher"—it "prioritized current events over syllogisms" and "ranged broadly, citing experimental psychology, legal theory, and neo-Nazi blogs."[9]

The Guardian's "rave review"[8] cited Stanley who said that, one of the "ironies of fascist politics" is that it includes the "normalization of the fascist myth" so that talk of fascism is made to appear to be "outlandish".[10] Fascist politics makes us able to "tolerate what was once intolerable by making it seem as if this is the way things have always been...By contrast the word 'fascist' has acquired a feeling of the extreme, like 'crying wolf'."[10]

The Times Literary Supplement (TLS), which gave the book a mixed review,[8] said that How Fascism Works belongs to a "wave of articles, books and op-eds" that warn us of the "return of fascism"—which includes Fascism: A warning by Madeleine Albright, On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder, When The Mob Gets Swayed with contributions by Paul Neuborn, and The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump with contributions by John Gartner. Stanley said in his book that a number of countries—the Philippines, Rwanda, Myanmar, Brazil, Russia, Hungary, Poland and the United States—have currently been "affected by fascist politics".[3]

References
  1. Jason Stanley (2017). How Propaganda Works.
  2. Jason Stanley (4 September 2018). How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. New York: Random House. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-525-51183-0. OCLC 1066694818.
  3. Aimar, Simona (1 November 2019). "Running for power: The 'spectrum concept' of fascism". The Times Literary Supplement (TLS). Book Review. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  4. Silva, Christianna. "Fascism Scholar Says U.S. Is 'Losing Its Democratic Status'". NPR.org. National Public Radio. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  5. "How Propaganda Works by Jason Stanley" (PDF), Alternative Radio (AR), Rise Up, Boulder, Colorado, 28 September 2017, retrieved 7 May 2020
  6. "How Fascism Works", Kirkus Reviews, retrieved 7 May 2020
  7. Beinart, Peter (11 September 2018). "Is Donald Trump a Fascist? - The New York Times". Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  8. "All Book Marks reviews for How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley". Book Marks. nd. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  9. Marantz, Andrew (17 April 2020). "Studying Fascist Propaganda by Day, Watching Trump's Coronavirus Updates by Night". The New Yorker. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  10. McCarthy, Tom (15 October 2018). "How Fascism Works review: a vital read for a nation under Trump". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 May 2020.

Interview with the author on the book

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