''Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning'' is a book by

Jonah Goldberg Jonah Jacob Goldberg (born March 21, 1969) is an American conservative journalist, author, and political commentator. The founding editor of ''National Review Online'', from 1998 until 2019, he was an editor at ''National Review''. Goldberg writ ...

, who was then a syndicated columnist and the editor-at-large of ''

National Review Online ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is Rich Lo ...

'' (now at ''

The Dispatch ''The Dispatch'' is an American center-right subscription-based online magazine founded by Jonah Goldberg, Stephen F. Hayes, and Toby Stock. Several of ''The Dispatchs staff (including Hayes) are alumni of '' The Weekly Standard'', whi ...

''). In contrast to the mainstream view among historians and political scientists that fascism is a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

ideology, Goldberg argues in the book that

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

movements were and are

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

. 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 Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

.. 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 History News Network (HNN) is an online platform for historians to comment on current events, and to place today's news into a historical perspective. HNN is hosted by the University of Richmond. History History News Network (HNN) is a non-profi ...

published essays by

David Neiwert David Neiwert is an American freelance journalist and blogger. He received the National Press Club Award for Distinguished Online Journalism in 2000 for a domestic terrorism series he produced for MSNBC's website. Neiwert has concentrated in p ...

Robert Paxton Robert Owen Paxton (born June 15, 1932) is an American political scientist and historian specializing in Vichy France, fascism, and Europe during the World War II era. He is Mellon Professor Emeritus of Social Science in the Department of Histor ...

Roger Griffin Roger David Griffin (born 31 January 1948) is a British professor of modern history and political theorist at Oxford Brookes University, England. His principal interest is the socio-historical and ideological dynamics of fascism, as well as v ...

, Matthew Feldman,

Chip Berlet John Foster "Chip" Berlet (; born November 22, 1949) is an American investigative journalist, research analyst, photojournalist, scholar, and activist specializing in the study of extreme right-wing movements in the United States. He also studie ...

and

Michael Ledeen Michael Arthur Ledeen (; August 1, 1941 – May 17, 2025) was an American scholar and neoconservative foreign policy analyst. He was a consultant to the United States National Security Council, the United States Department of State, and the Unit ...

criticizing ''Liberal Fascism''. These reviews denounced the book as being "poor scholarship", "propaganda", and not scholarly.

also published a response by Goldberg, to which several authors then responded. 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

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

'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 Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

proved me wrong."

References

External links

Book discussion blog on ''National Review Online''

'The Daily Show' Interview with Jonah Goldberg
* Dr. Milt Rosenbergbr>interviews Jonah Goldberg on ''WGN Radio – Extension 720''
*

Hugh Hewitt Hugh Hewitt (born February 22, 1956) is an American conservative political commentator, radio talk show host with the Salem Radio Network, attorney, academic, and author. He writes about law, society, politics, and media bias in the United States ...

'
Interview with Jonah Goldberg
*

Investor's Business Daily ''Investor's Business Daily'' (''IBD'') is an American newspaper and website covering the stock market, international business, finance, and economics. Founded in 1984 by William O'Neil as a print newspaper, it is owned by News Corp and headquar ...

'
interview
wit
Jonah Goldberg
* * Robert Wright'
interview with Jonah Goldberg
on

Bloggingheads.tv Bloggingheads.tv (sometimes abbreviated "bhtv") was a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast on ...

. {{authority control 2008 non-fiction books American political books Books about politics of the United States Books about fascism Books critical of modern liberalism in the United States Doubleday (publisher) books

Origin of title

Reception

See also

References

External links