Praise for Liberal Fascism
“In the greatest hoax of modern history, Russia's ruling “socialist workers party,” the Communists, established themselves as the polar opposites of their two socialist clones, the National Socialist German Workers Party (quicknamed "the Nazis") and Italy's Marxist-inspired Fascisti, by branding both as "the fascists." Jonah Goldberg is the first historian to detail the havoc this spin of all spins has played upon Western thought for the past 75 years, very much including the present moment. Love it or loathe it, "Liberal Fascism" is a book of intellectual history you won't be able to put down---in either sense of the term.”
--Tom Wolfe, author of Bonfire of the Vanities and I Am Charlotte Simmons.
“'It is my argument that American liberalism is a totalitarian political religion,' Jonah Goldberg writes near the beginning of Liberal Fascism. My first reaction was that he is engaging in partisan hyperbole. That turned out to be wrong. Liberal Fascism is nothing less than a portrait of 20th-century political history as seen through a new prism. It will affect the way I think about that history-and about the trajectory of today's politics-forever after.”
--Charles Murray, W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, author of Human Accomplishment and co-author (with Richard J. Herrnstein) of The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life.
“If this summary sounds mind-numbingly implausible, read Liberal Fascism in full for its colorful quotes and convincing documentation. The author, hitherto known as a smart, sharp-elbowed polemicist, has proven himself a major political thinker.”
-- Daniel Pipes writes for Townhall.com.
“How we think of the ideological spectrum - socialism to the left, fascism to the right - should be forever changed.”
-- Richard Lowry, Editor National Review, Liberal Fascism.
“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.”
-- David Pryce-Jones, author of The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs and The Strange Death of the Soviet Union
“Disagree if you must, but go out and read this brilliant, insightful, and important book.”
--Ronald Radosh, New York Sun, America’s Fascist Moment.
“But regardless of the reason, it comes as a delightful surprise to discover that it is none other than the cheerful joker of the conservative commentariat, whose most notable previous accomplishment was offending the entire nation of France by quoting a cartoon, who has written the most ideologically significant work of political non-fiction since Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind.”
-- Vox Day, World Net Daily.
“In the 1930s, the socialist intellectual H.G. Wells called for the creation of a “liberal fascism,” which he envisioned as a totalitarian state governed by an oligarchy of benevolent experts. In Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg brilliantly traces the intellectual roots of Fascism to their surprising source, showing not only that the ideas that motivate Fascism derive from the Left, but that the liberal fascist impulse is alive and well among contemporary progressives -- and is even a temptation for compassionate conservatives.”
-- Ronald Bailey is the author of Liberation Biology: The Scientific and Moral Case for the Biotech Revolution and science correspondent for Reason magazine.
“One of the best and brightest of his generation. Plenty to argue with here, but with Jonah, come prepared to face a quick mind, a great wit, and a lot of humanity.”
--William J. Bennett, fellow at The Claremont Institute and author of America: The Last Best Hope.
“Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism will enrage many people on the left, but his dire thesis deserves serious attention. Going back to the eugenics movement there has been a strain of elitist moral certainty that allows one group of people to believe they have the right to determine the lives of others. We have replaced the divine right of kings with the divine right of self righteous groups. Democracy and the rights of the individual stand against both systems of domination. Goldberg will lead you to new understanding and force you to think deeply.”
-- Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, author of Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract With America.
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