Saturday, February 09, 2008

"The Economist" reviews Liberal Fascism

JONAH GOLDBERG'S “Liberal Fascism” enjoyed four postponements, a change of subtitle and a lorry load of advance hate-mail before it was finally published a month ago. But the wait was worth it; in January it became America's biggest-selling political book.

For anyone willing to give Mr Goldberg a chance, his (odd) central thesis is that American liberalism, more than conservatism, has roots in the fascism of pre-war Europe. Fascism was an international movement that took different forms in different countries. In Germany it turned rapidly into a genocidal racist nationalism; in America, he says, it took on a more friendly, liberal form.

Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian and Heinrich Himmler an animal-rights activist. Does that mean all Democrats are Nazis? No, probably not, though the Hillary-haters love Mr Goldberg's book anyway. After all, back when she still seemed a shoo-in to the White House, his subtitle for “Liberal Fascism” was “The Secret History of the American left, From Mussolini to Hillary Clinton”.


[link, which takes 2 seconds to find]

Heh Indeed.

UPDATE: Someone finally sent Jonah the link.

FINAL UPDATE 15 MARCH: He won't like the Financial Times review either.

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