How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them

The Introduction to How Fascism Works establishes the personal relevance of the topic to Stanley. He writes that his father escaped Nazi Germany in 1936 when he was six years old with the author’s paternal grandmother.

The presidency of Donald Trump is the clear impetus for the book, although Stanley notes the existence of fascist political themes throughout U.S. history. He recalls the 1920-1930s pro-fascist activities of the “America First” campaign associated with famed pilot Charles Lindbergh, noting Trump’s use of the phrase in his 2016 campaign. Stanley also argues that Trump’s “Make America Great Again” expresses the fascist longing for an idyllic and mythic past.

Stanley explains that this book is about the politics through which fascist groups obtain power. He identifies the “us versus them” division as the most distinctive characteristic of fascist politics, noting that it dehumanizes segments of a population and paves the way for genocides and other state-sanctioned atrocities.

As reflected in the chapters that follow, Stanley explains that fascist politics function according to the following interdependent mechanisms. It creates a vision of the mythic past to justify fascist politicians’ policies in the present. A population’s shared reality is distorted through