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{{short description|2008 book by Jonah Goldberg}}
⚫ {{Infobox Book
{{use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
| name = Liberal Fascism
⚫ {{Infobox book
| image = ]
| author = ] |name = Liberal Fascism
| country = ] |image = Liberal Fascism (cover).jpg
| language = ] |author = ]
| subject = Politics |country = United States
| publisher = ] |subject = Politics
|publisher = ]
| release_date = ] ] |release_date = January 8, 2008
| media_type = Print (]) |media_type = Print (hardcover)
| pages = 496 |pages = 496
| isbn = ISBN 0385511841 |isbn = 0-385-51184-1
|dewey = 320.53/3 22
|congress = JC481 .G55 2007
|oclc = 123136367
}} }}


'''''Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning''''' is a book by ], who was then a syndicated columnist and the editor-at-large of '']'' (now at '']''). In contrast to the mainstream view among historians and political scientists that fascism is a ] ideology, Goldberg argues in the book that ] movements were and are ].<ref name="Granieri 2020">{{cite news |last=Granieri |first=Ronald J. |date=5 February 2020 |title=The right needs to stop falsely claiming that the Nazis were socialists |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/02/05/right-needs-stop-falsely-claiming-that-nazis-were-socialists/ |access-date=7 August 2021 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Published in January 2008, it reached number one on ] of hardcover non-fiction in its seventh week on the list.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/books/bestseller/0309besthardnonfiction.html|title=Hardcover Nonfiction|date=March 9, 2008|work=]|access-date=March 5, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113070051/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/books/bestseller/0309besthardnonfiction.html|archive-date=November 13, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>
'''''Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From ] to the ]''''' is a bestselling book by ].


== Origin of title ==
In the book, Goldberg argues that, contrary to ], fascist movements were and are ]. He states that both ] (not to be confused with ]) and ] descended from ], and in fact that prior to ] "fascism was widely viewed as a progressive social movement with many liberal and left-wing adherents in Europe and the United States".<ref>{{harvnb| Goldberg | 2008 | p=9 }}.</ref> Goldberg also argues that over time the term "Fascism" has lost its actual meaning and instead has descended to the level of being "a modern word for 'heretic,' branding an individual worthy of excommunication from the body politic"<ref name="goldberg4">{{harvnb| Goldberg | 2008 | p=4 }}.</ref> and that this devolution of the meaning is not new, noting that ] had observed this in 1946 when he described the word as no longer having any meaning except to signify "something not desirable".<ref> George Orwell, 1946.</ref><ref name="goldberg4"/> Goldberg goes to lengths to illustrate that there was more to Fascism than bigotry and genocide and, in fact, that bigotry and genocide were not so much a feature of Fascism itself but rather a feature of ] which was forced upon the Italian Fascists "after the Nazis had invaded northern Italy and created a ] in Salò".<ref>{{harvnb| Goldberg | 2008 | p=25 }}.</ref>
Goldberg has said in interviews that the title ''Liberal Fascism'' was taken from a 1932 speech by science fiction pioneer ] at ].<ref name="G&H Podcast">{{cite podcast|url=http://politicscentral.com/2007/12/27/the_glenn_and_helen_show_jonah.php|title=The Glenn and Helen Show: Jonah Goldberg on Hillary, Huckabee, and Liberal Fascism|website=Politics Central|host=] & ]|date=December 27, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071228180749/http://politicscentral.com/2007/12/27/the_glenn_and_helen_show_jonah.php|archive-date=December 28, 2007|df=mdy-all}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Goldberg |first1=Jonah |title=What 'The Daily Show' Cut Out |url=http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JonahGoldberg/2008/01/23/what_the_daily_show_cut_out |website=townhall.com |language=en |date=23 January 2008}}</ref> Before being published, alternative subtitles included ''The Totalitarian Temptation from Mussolini to Hillary Clinton'' and ''The Totalitarian Temptation from Hegel to Whole Foods''.<ref>], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100309041348/http://www.slate.com/id/2169323/ |date=March 9, 2010 }} in ''Slate'', June 27, 2007</ref>


== Reception ==
Goldberg has told interviewers that the title "''Liberal Fascism''" comes "directly from a speech that ] gave to the Young Liberals at ] in ]."<ref name="G&H Podcast">{{cite podcast |url=http://politicscentral.com/2007/12/27/the_glenn_and_helen_show_jonah.php |title=The Glenn and Helen Show: Jonah Goldberg on Hillary, Huckabee, and Liberal Fascism |website=Politics Central |host=] & ] |date=2007-12-27 }}.</ref><ref name="Coupland">{{cite journal |last=Coupland |first=Philip |year=2000 |title=H.G. Wells's 'Liberal Fascism' |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=541–558 |url=http://jch.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/4/541}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb| Goldberg | 2008 | p=21 }}.</ref> Wells stated he wanted to "assist in a kind of ]" of Liberalism<ref name="Coupland" /> as an "enlightened Nazism."<ref name="Fluet">{{cite journal |last=Fluet |first=Lisa |year=2004 |title=Modernism and Disciplinary History: On H. G. Wells and T. S. Eliot |journal=Twentieth-Century Literature |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=283–316 |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0403/is_3_50/ai_n12413258/ |publisher=] |quote=], participating in a symposium of articles on ''The Outline'' that ], as editor of ''The Criterion'', called for in the early 1930s, summed up best the concerned skepticism about authoritarianism that ''The Outline'' raised in suggesting its compatibility with ]'s recent, "more explicit pronouncements in favour of a 'liberal fascism' and 'an enlightened Nazism.'" |doi=10.2307/4149260}}</ref> Goldberg explains that the smiley face on the cover is a reference to comments made by comedian ] on ]'s '']'' when he said that "when fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jackboots. It will be Nike sneakers and smiley shirts. Smiley-smiley."<ref> South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jonah Goldberg, January 25, 2008</ref><ref>{{harvnb| Goldberg | 2008 | pp= 1–2}}.</ref>
In January 2010, the ] published essays by ], ], ], Matthew Feldman, ] and ] criticizing ''Liberal Fascism''. These reviews denounced the book as being "poor scholarship",<ref>{{cite web |last=Feldman |first=Matthew |title=Poor Scholarship, Wrong Conclusions |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130719003021/http://www.hnn.us/articles/122247.html|archive-date=2013-07-19|url=http://www.hnn.us/articles/122247.html |access-date=May 31, 2011 |work=HNN Special: A Symposium on Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism |publisher=George Mason University (HNN)}}</ref> "propaganda",<ref>{{cite web |last=Griffin |first=Roger |title=An Academic Book – Not! |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130419034354/http://www.hnn.us/articles/122473.html|archive-date=2013-04-19|url=http://www.hnn.us/articles/122473.html |access-date=May 31, 2011 |work=HNN Special: A Symposium on Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism |publisher=George Mason University (HNN)}}</ref> and not scholarly.<ref>{{cite web |last=Paxton |first=Robert |title=The Scholarly Flaws of "Liberal Fascism" |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130506171901/http://www.hnn.us/articles/122231.html|archive-date=2013-05-06|url=http://www.hnn.us/articles/122231.html |access-date=May 31, 2011 |work=HNN Special: A Symposium on Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism |publisher=George Mason University (HNN)}}</ref> ] also published a response by Goldberg, to which several authors then responded.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=http://www.hnn.us/articles/122469.html |title=Introduction |access-date=January 25, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100128034427/http://www.hnn.us/articles/122469.html |archive-date=January 28, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>


In a January 2022 retrospective published in the conservative magazine '']'', Goldberg stated that: "While I would certainly write the book differently today, I still stand by much of it, proudly so in many regards. For instance, I take great satisfaction that my hammer-and-tongs attack on ]'s nativism, racism, and authoritarianism, much ridiculed at the time is now much closer to conventional wisdom on the left and right." However, Goldberg also stated that: "there's one important claim that has been rendered utterly wrong. I argued that, contrary to generations of left-wing fearmongering and slander about the right's fascist tendencies, the modern American right was simply immune to the fascist temptation chiefly because it was too dogmatically committed to the Founders, to constitutionalism, and to classical liberalism generally. Almost 13 years to the day after publication, ] ]."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-05 |title=What I Got Wrong About Fascism |url=https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/gfile/what-i-got-wrong-about-fascism/ |access-date=2023-06-20 |website=The Dispatch |language=en-US}}</ref>
The book reached #1 on the ] of ] ] in its seventh week on the list.<ref>{{cite web
| url= http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/books/bestseller/0309besthardnonfiction.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
| title= Hardcover Nonfiction
|date= March 9,<!-- sic. --> 2008 |work= |publisher= '']''
| accessdate= 2008-03-05 }} </ref>


== Reviews == == See also ==
* ]
* ]
* '']'' (2018 film)


⚫ == References ==
In '']'', ] complained that Goldberg's grouping of left-wing politics with fascism is based less on solid connections than on weak, tenuous associations: "Some fascists were vegetarians; some liberals are vegetarians; ergo... Some fascists were gay; some liberals are gay... Fascists cared about educating children; Hillary Clinton cares about educating children. Aha! . . . This is a book that argues that Woodrow Wilson 'was the twentieth century's first fascist dictator' and that it is 'impossible to deny that the New Deal was objectively fascistic.'"<ref> ], ] February 21, 2008</ref>

Author ] said "Jonah Goldberg argues that liberals today have doctrinal and emotional roots in twentieth-century European fascism. Many people will be shocked just by the thought that long discredited fascism could mutate into the spirit of another age. It's always exhilarating when someone takes on received opinion, but this is not a work of pamphleteering. Goldberg's insight, supported by a great deal of learning, happens to be right."

'']'' said the "provocative and well-researched" book "probes modern liberalism's spooky origins in early 20th-century fascist politics." ''PW'' further said that the book is "seriously argued and funny."<ref name="Publishers Weekly">{{cite web |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6504692.html |title=Nonfiction Reviews: Week of 11/26/2007 |accessdate=2007-12-24 |date=2007-11-26 |publisher=]}}</ref>

Larry Thornberry of the '']'' called the book "a major contribution to understanding the history of political ideas and attitudes over the last two centuries and change" and said that "readers will have to set aside some serious time to read it.... But for anyone wishing to understand the contemporary political scene, it will repay that reading time handsomely."<ref>, '']'', Larry Thornberry, February 17, 2008.</ref>

Blogger and journalist ], writing in '']'', called the book "] history" and "classic ]." Neiwert wrote that "he title alone is enough to indicate its thoroughgoing incoherence: Of all the things we know about fascism and the traits that comprise it, one of the few things that historians will readily agree upon is its overwhelming ''anti-liberalism''."<ref>, '']'', David Neiwert, January 8, 2008</ref>

Writing in '']'', ] panned the book, saying "Not only does Goldberg misunderstand liberalism, but he refuses to see it simply as liberalism" and that "''Liberal Fascism'' reads less like an extended argument than as a catalogue of conservative intellectual clichés, often irrelevant to the supposed point of the book."<ref>, '']'', Austin W. Bramwell January 27, 2008.</ref>

] of '']'' wrote "''Liberal Fascism'' is less an exposé of left-wing hypocrisy than a chance to exact political revenge. Yet the title of his book aside, what distinguishes Goldberg from the ]s and ]s is a witty intelligence that deals in ideas as well as insults - no mean feat in the nasty world of the ]."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/books/review/Oshinsky-t.html |title=Heil Woodrow! |accessdate=2008-02-20 |date=2007-12-30}}</ref>

] wrote in '']'', "...I can report with a clear conscience that ''Liberal Fascism'' is one of the most tedious and inane--and ultimately self-negating--books that I have ever read. . . . ''Liberal Fascism'' is a document of a deeply frivolous culture, or sub-culture."<ref>{{cite web
| url= http://www.tnr.com/booksarts/story.html?id=d6977c2f-4788-468e-8f63-2e92109320fe&p=1
| title= "Jackboots and Whole Foods"
|author= Michael Tomasky
| date= March 12,<!-- sic. --> 2008 | publisher= '']''
| accessdate= 2008-03-05 }} </ref>

] wrote in '']'' that "Scholars have never quite come to a consensus on how to define fascism. Goldberg's approach is to let the record speak for itself."<ref> ], ] March 20, 2008</ref>

] of '']'' praised the book, saying that "He (Goldberg) has read widely and thoroughly, not only in the primary sources of fascism, but in the political and intellectual history written by the major historians of the subject." and in closing said "Disagree if you must, but go out and read this brilliant, insightful, and important book."<ref> ], ] January 4, 2008</ref>

] of '']'' wrote, "Jonah Goldberg's ''Liberal Fascism'' is a flawed but useful attempt to redraw the political map. Goldberg shows how Woodrow Wilson began and Franklin Roosevelt amplified an almost-fascist concentration of power in Washington. FDR boasted of his 'wholesome and proper' buildup of power because he was leading 'a people's government.' Goldberg shows how liberals came to believe that authoritarian government is fine as long as representatives of 'the people'—themselves—are in charge."<ref> ], ] July 12, 2008</ref>

When author Jonah Goldberg went on a episode of ] to promote his book, the interview with host ] went into overtime, with Jon Stewart taking issue with many of the charges Goldberg made in his book, and had to be cut down to just highlights of the interview when it aired. Jon Stewart commenting at the end "Can we air any of this?"

⚫ == References ==
*{{Harvard reference
| last= Goldberg | first= Jonah | authorlink= Jonah Goldberg
| year= 2008
| date=
| title= Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
| place=
⚫ | publisher= ]
| edition=
| id= ISBN 0385511841
}}
== Notes ==
{{Reflist|colwidth=25em}} {{Reflist|colwidth=25em}}


== External Links == == External links ==
* *
* *
* *
⚫ * ]
* by ]
⚫ * ]'s {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520090545/http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/talkradio/transcripts/Transcript.aspx?ContentGuid=8076ffd8-c377-49fd-ac07-31ad2ba6b942 |date=May 20, 2011 }}
⚫ *
* ]'s with {{dead link|date=May 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
*
* {{cite web|title=Book Discussion on ''Liberal Fascism''|url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?203535-1/book-discussion-liberal-fascism|publisher=]|access-date=26 April 2015|date=9 January 2008}}
⚫ * ]'s
*]'s with * ]'s on ].


{{poli-book-stub}} {{s-start}}

{{start box}}
{{succession box {{succession box
| before = '']''<br> by ] |before = '']''<br>by ]
| title = #1 ] ] |title = No. 1 ] ]
| years = March 9 2008 |years = March 9, 2008
| after = '']''<br> by ] |after = '']''<br>by ]
}} }}
{{end box}} {{s-end}}

⚫ ]
{{authority control}}
⚫ ]

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] ]
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Latest revision as of 12:34, 2 December 2024

2008 book by Jonah Goldberg

Liberal Fascism
AuthorJonah Goldberg
SubjectPolitics
PublisherDoubleday
Publication dateJanuary 8, 2008
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages496
ISBN0-385-51184-1
OCLC123136367
Dewey Decimal320.53/3 22
LC ClassJC481 .G55 2007

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning is a book by Jonah Goldberg, who was then a syndicated columnist and the editor-at-large of National Review Online (now at The Dispatch). In contrast to the mainstream view among historians and political scientists that fascism is a far-right ideology, Goldberg argues in the book that fascist movements were and are left-wing. Published in January 2008, it reached number one on The New York Times Best Seller list of hardcover non-fiction in its seventh week on the list.

Origin of title

Goldberg has said in interviews that the title Liberal Fascism was taken from a 1932 speech by science fiction pioneer H. G. Wells at Oxford. Before being published, alternative subtitles included The Totalitarian Temptation from Mussolini to Hillary Clinton and The Totalitarian Temptation from Hegel to Whole Foods.

Reception

In January 2010, the History News Network published essays by David Neiwert, Robert Paxton, Roger Griffin, Matthew Feldman, Chip Berlet and Michael Ledeen criticizing Liberal Fascism. These reviews denounced the book as being "poor scholarship", "propaganda", and not scholarly. History News Network also published a response by Goldberg, to which several authors then responded.

In a January 2022 retrospective published in the conservative magazine The Dispatch, Goldberg stated that: "While I would certainly write the book differently today, I still stand by much of it, proudly so in many regards. For instance, I take great satisfaction that my hammer-and-tongs attack on Woodrow Wilson's nativism, racism, and authoritarianism, much ridiculed at the time is now much closer to conventional wisdom on the left and right." However, Goldberg also stated that: "there's one important claim that has been rendered utterly wrong. I argued that, contrary to generations of left-wing fearmongering and slander about the right's fascist tendencies, the modern American right was simply immune to the fascist temptation chiefly because it was too dogmatically committed to the Founders, to constitutionalism, and to classical liberalism generally. Almost 13 years to the day after publication, Donald Trump proved me wrong."

See also

References

  1. Granieri, Ronald J. (February 5, 2020). "The right needs to stop falsely claiming that the Nazis were socialists". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  2. "Hardcover Nonfiction". The New York Times. March 9, 2008. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
  3. Glenn Reynolds & Helen Smith (December 27, 2007). "The Glenn and Helen Show: Jonah Goldberg on Hillary, Huckabee, and Liberal Fascism". Politics Central (Podcast). Archived from the original on December 28, 2007..
  4. Goldberg, Jonah (January 23, 2008). "What 'The Daily Show' Cut Out". townhall.com.
  5. Noah, Timothy, Has Jonah Goldberg Gone Soft on Hillary? Archived March 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine in Slate, June 27, 2007
  6. Feldman, Matthew. "Poor Scholarship, Wrong Conclusions". HNN Special: A Symposium on Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. George Mason University (HNN). Archived from the original on July 19, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  7. Griffin, Roger. "An Academic Book – Not!". HNN Special: A Symposium on Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. George Mason University (HNN). Archived from the original on April 19, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  8. Paxton, Robert. "The Scholarly Flaws of "Liberal Fascism"". HNN Special: A Symposium on Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. George Mason University (HNN). Archived from the original on May 6, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  9. "Introduction". Archived from the original on January 28, 2010. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
  10. "What I Got Wrong About Fascism". The Dispatch. January 5, 2022. Retrieved June 20, 2023.

External links

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by Michael Pollan 		No. 1 New York Times Best Seller Non-Fiction
March 9, 2008 		Succeeded byLosing It
by Valerie Bertinelli
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