Fascism: A Warning

Madeleine Albright

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780062802200
• eBook ISBN: 9780062931276
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

#1 New York Times Bestseller

“Albright outlines the warning signs of fascism and offers concrete actions for restoring America’s values and reputation. There is priceless wisdom on every page.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Fascism [is] the work of a woman who knows authoritarianism when she sees it. And she sees the seeds of it not only in a slew of leaders hell bent on subverting democratic norms—Turkey’s Erdogan, Venezuela’s Maduro, Hungary’s Orbán, and others—but also in Donald Trump, whom she calls in the book ‘the first antidemocratic president in modern U.S. history.’” — The Daily Beast

A personal and urgent examination of Fascism in the twentieth century and how its legacy shapes today’s world, written by one of the most admired public servants in American history, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state

A Fascist, observed Madeleine Albright, “is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have.” 

The twentieth century was defined by the clash between democracy and Fascism, a struggle that created uncertainty about the survival of human freedom and left millions dead. Given the horrors of that experience, one might expect the world to reject the spiritual successors to Hitler and Mussolini should they arise in our era. Fascism: A Warning is drawn from Madeleine Albright's experiences as a child in war-torn Europe and her distinguished career as a diplomat to question that assumption.

Fascism, as she shows, not only endured through the twentieth century but now presents a more virulent threat to peace and justice than at any time since the end of World War II. The momentum toward democracy that swept the world when the Berlin Wall fell has gone into reverse. The United States, which historically championed the free world, is led by a president who exacerbates division and heaps scorn on democratic institutions. In many countries, economic, technological, and cultural factors are weakening the political center and empowering the extremes of right and left. Contemporary leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are employing many of the tactics used by Fascists in the 1920s and 30s.

Fascism: A Warning is a book for our times that is relevant to all times. Written by someone who not only studied history but helped to shape it, this call to arms teaches us the lessons we must understand and the questions we must answer if we are to save ourselves from repeating the tragic errors of the past.

Index

The pagination of this digital edition does not match the print edition from which the index was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your ebook reader’s search tools.

Adams, John Quincy, 209

Afghanistan, 97, 111, 117

Africa, governments of, 113

See also Rhodesia; South Africa; specific countries

Albania, 25, 49, 84

Kosovo and, 101–2, 103, 104

Albright, Madeleine, 185, 235

American troops in England and (1944), 208

Babiš, impression of, 183–84

Bush’s relationship with, 244–45

in Carter’s White House, 123

Chávez and, 121, 122, 126

as secretary of state, 102, 126, 143, 171, 195, 213, 245, 255

Cold War and worldview of, 156–57

Community of Democracies conference, 106–7

on the EU, 180

family members murdered in the Holocaust, 2, 66

family returns to Czechoslovakia (1945–48), 82–87

family travels to America (1948), 1, 87, 185

family’s escape to London (1939), 1, 67

father of (see Korbel, Josef)

on fundamental purpose of foreign policy, 200–201

at Georgetown University, Walsh School, 218, 232–37, 248–49

German bombing of Britain and, 67–69

on globalism and cooperation, 217–18

Gulen Institute and, 148

human rights work, 213–14

Hungary welcomed into NATO and, 171

as immigrant in America, 2–3, 185

on immigration issues, 187

Kim Dae-jung and, 214

Kosovo crisis and Milošević, 101–5, 196

on NATO, 218

as NDI chair, 109–11

in presidential campaigns, 116

Putin and, 158–59, 167

Pyongyang visit and meetings with Kim Jong-il, 195–99

remarks at Bush Institute event, October 2017, 245

staff member, Carter White House, 123

study of Eastern Europe, 3

survey of attitudes regarding democracy and free enterprise, 157

think tank projects and, 247

Trump’s presidency, analysis, 216–24, 245–46

on Turkey and Erdoğan, 143–45, 151

as UN ambassador, 97, 213–14

Alfonso XIII, King of Spain, 49

Aliyev, Ilham, 244

Alvarado, Juan Velasco, 123–24

America First Committee (AFC), 216

American Blackshirts, 235

American People’s Party, 226

Angola, 97

Anthony, Susan B., 126

anti-Semitism, 56

in Germany, 33, 80

in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, 65

Mosley and Fascism in Britain, 58

Pelley and the Silver Legion, 61

Protocols of the Elders of Zion, 92

in the Soviet Union, 80, 89

stat...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Preface
• One: A Doctrine of Anger and Fear
• Two: The Greatest Show on Earth
• Three: “We Want to Be Barbarians”
• Four: “Close Your Hearts to Pity”
• Five: Victory of the Caesars
• Six: The Fall
• Seven: Dictatorship of Democracy
• Eight: “There Are a Lot of Bodies Up There”
• Nine: A Difficult Art
• Ten: President for Life
• Eleven: Erdoğan the Magnificent
• Twelve: Man from the KGB
• Thirteen: “We Are Who We Were”
• Fourteen: “The Leader Will Always Be with Us”
• Fifteen: President of the United States
• Sixteen: Bad Dreams
• Seventeen: The Right Questions
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index
• About the Author
• Praise
• Also by Madeleine Albright
• Copyright
• About the Publisher