Synopses & Reviews
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.
---Sinclair Lewis, author of It Can't Happen Here, 1935
For the first time since the Nixon era, Americans have reason to doubt the future---or even the presence---of democracy. We live in a society where government conspires with big business and big evangelism; where ideologues and religious zealots attack logic and the scientific method; and where the ruling party encourages xenophobic nationalism based on irrational, manufactured fear. The party in power seems to seek a perpetual state of war to hold on to power, and they are willing to lie, cheat, and steal to achieve their ends. The question must be asked: Are we headed toward the end of American democracy?
Nobel Prize--winning author Sinclair Lewis depicted authoritarianism American-style in his sardonically titled dystopian novel It Can't Happen Here, published in 1935. Now, bestselling political journalist Joe Conason argues that it can happen here--and a select group of extremely powerful right-wing ideologues are driving us ever closer to the precipice.
In this compelling, impassioned, yet rational and fact-based look at the state of the nation, Conason shows how and why America has been wrenched away from its founding principles and is being dragged toward authoritarianism. Praise for the books of Joe Conason: A comprehensive, well-researched indictment of a bunch of nasty people who really deserve it.
---Molly Ivins on Big Lies
When Joe casts his eye on the cadres of the right, they invariably emerge battered, with their arguments filleted, their sources of money exposed, and their real motives laid bare.
--Michael Tomasky, former editor, The American Prospect, on The Raw Deal
A hundred years from now the primary source on the so-called Clinton scandals will still be The Hunting of the President by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons.
---James Carville on The Hunting of the President Joe Conason writes for Salon and has written a popular political column for The New York Observer since 1992. He is the author of Big Lies, The Raw Deal, and, with Gene Lyons, The Hunting of the President. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, The Nation, and many other publications. He is a regular commentator on Air America Radio. When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.--Sinclair Lewis, author of It Can't Happen Here, 1935
For the first time since the Nixon era, Americans have reason to doubt the future--or even the presence--of democracy. We live in a society where government conspires with big business and big evangelism; where ideologues and religious zealots attack logic and the scientific method; and where the ruling party encourages xenophobic nationalism based on irrational, manufactured fear. The party in power seems to seek a perpetual state of war to hold on to power, and they are willing to lie, cheat, and steal to achieve their ends. The question must be asked: Are we headed toward the end of American democracy?
Nobel Prize-winning author Sinclair Lewis depicted authoritarianism American-style in his sardonically titled dystopian novel It Can't Happen Here, published in 1935. Now, bestselling political journalist Joe Conason argues that it can happen here--and a select group of extremely powerful right-wing ideologues are driving us ever closer to the precipice.
In this compelling, impassioned, yet rational and fact-based look at the state of the nation, Conason shows how and why America has been wrenched away from its founding principles and is being dragged toward authoritarianism. Sinclair Lewis's 1935 novel It Can't Happen Here envisaged a right-wing populist president, advised by a cunning political strategist and backed by a cynical alliance of religious fundamentalists and corporations, who uses security threats to consolidate dictatorial powers, destroy civil liberties and establish folksy fascism. This is a virtual blueprint for the current Bush administration, a 'corrupt and authoritarian ruling clique' that accords the president 'the prerogatives of a king, ' argues political columnist Conason . . . He surveys a long list of what he sees as Bush administration affronts to freedom and democracy: military tribunals, torture, warrantless wiretapping, politically motivated terrorism alerts, a war based on fraudulent pretexts, the Abramoff scandals, the handover of policy making to business interests and Christian zealots, tight secrecy coupled with a dissemination of propaganda through the right-wing media and a lawless contempt for constitutional constraints on the presidency.--Publishers Weekly Conason follows Sinclair Lewis' 1935 book It Can't Happen Here with a firm assertion that fascism can indeed take root and blossom in the U.S. if Americans aren't more vigilant about freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Although we are not facing full-blown fascism, Conason sees a 'gradual and insidious turn toward authoritarian rule' for the first time since the Nixon administration. He explores how and why Lewis' grim and amusing tale resonates today as Americans watch an increasingly secretive Bush administration usurp the power of the legislature and disregard provisions of the Constitution by stoking fear of terrorism. Conason, author of Big Lies (2003) and The Raw Deal (2005), points to periods throughout history when nations have been tempted by tyrants to turn over the reins of government, and the factors in U.S. history and culture that make us vulnerable to similar impulses now, in the midst of manufactured fears. However readers might feel about Conason's political viewpoints, his caution is worth considering.--Vanessa Bush, Booklist
Review
"[Conason] ably catalogs the Bush administration's attempts to subvert civil liberties." New York Times
Synopsis
An impassioned and cautionary analysis of the state of democracy in America charges powerful factions from the political right with conspiring with big businesses, promoting religious agendas at the expense of scientific logic, and using fear-monger tactics to perpetuate war. By the author of Big Lies. 150,000 first printing.
Synopsis
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Sinclair Lewis, author of
It Can't Happen Here, 1935
For the first time since the Nixon era, Americans have reason to doubt the future or even the presence of democracy. We live in a society where government conspires with big business and big evangelism; where ideologues and religious zealots attack logic and the scientific method; and where the ruling party encourages xenophobic nationalism based on irrational, manufactured fear. The party in power seems to seek a perpetual state of war to hold on to power, and they are willing to lie, cheat, and steal to achieve their ends. The question must be asked: Are we headed toward the end of American democracy?
Nobel Prize-winning author Sinclair Lewis depicted authoritarianism American-style in his sardonically titled dystopian novel It Can't Happen Here, published in 1935. Now, bestselling political journalist Joe Conason argues that it can happen here and a select group of extremely powerful right-wing ideologues are driving us ever closer to the precipice.
In this compelling, impassioned, yet rational and fact-based look at the state of the nation, Conason shows how and why America has been wrenched away from its founding principles and is being dragged toward authoritarianism.
Synopsis
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
---Sinclair Lewis, author of It Can't Happen Here, 1935
For the first time since the Nixon era, Americans have reason to doubt the future---or even the presence---of democracy. We live in a society where government conspires with big business and big evangelism; where ideologues and religious zealots attack logic and the scientific method; and where the ruling party encourages xenophobic nationalism based on irrational, manufactured fear. The party in power seems to seek a perpetual state of war to hold on to power, and they are willing to lie, cheat, and steal to achieve their ends. The question must be asked: Are we headed toward the end of American democracy?
Nobel Prize--winning author Sinclair Lewis depicted authoritarianism American-style in his sardonically titled dystopian novel It Can't Happen Here, published in 1935. Now, bestselling political journalist Joe Conason argues that it can happen here--and a select group of extremely powerful right-wing ideologues are driving us ever closer to the precipice.
In this compelling, impassioned, yet rational and fact-based look at the state of the nation, Conason shows how and why America has been wrenched away from its founding principles and is being dragged toward authoritarianism. Praise for the books of Joe Conason: "A comprehensive, well-researched indictment of a bunch of nasty people who really deserve it."
---Molly Ivins on Big Lies
"When Joe casts his eye on the cadres of the right, they invariably emerge battered, with their arguments filleted, their sources of money exposed, and their real motives laid bare."
--Michael Tomasky, former editor, The American Prospect, on The Raw Deal
"A hundred years from now the primary source on the so-called Clinton scandals will still be The Hunting of the President by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons."
---James Carville on The Hunting of the President
Synopsis
For the first time since the Nixon era, Americans have reason to doubt the future of democracy. Today, to an unprecedented degree, big government conspires with big business and big evangelism, while civil liberties are diminished and war is promoted by taxpayer-funded ideologues, raving pundits, and religious zealots. Could we be headed toward an age of authoritarianism?
Available for the first time in paperback, this compelling, impassioned, yet rational and fact-based look at the state of the nation by bestselling political journalist Joe Conason shows how and why the Bush administration and the neoconservative right have wrenched America away from its founding principles---and pushed us toward a never-ending series of foreign wars.
About the Author
Joe Conason is the national correspondent for the New York Observer, where he writes a political column that is distrubuted by the United Features Syndicate. He is also a contributing editor for Talk magazine and a contributer to Salon.com. His writing has appeared in The Nation, Harper's, The New Yorker, and many other publications.