American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America
Hedges, who grew up in rural parishes in upstate New York where his father was a Presbyterian pastor, attacks the movement as someone steeped in the Bible and Christian tradition. He points to the hundreds of senators and members of Congress who have earned between 80 and 100 percent approval ratings from the three most influential Christian Right advocacy groups as one of many signs that the movement is burrowing deep inside the American government to subvert it. The movement's call to dismantle the wall between church and state and the intolerance it preaches against all who do not conform to its warped vision of a Christian America are pumped into tens of millions of American homes through Christian television and radio stations, as well as reinforced through the curriculum in Christian schools. The movement's yearning for apocalyptic violence and its assault on dispassionate, intellectual inquiry are laying the foundation for a new, frightening America.
American Fascists, which includes interviews and coverage of events such as pro-life rallies and weeklong classes on conversion techniques, examines the movement's origins, its driving motivations and its dark ideological underpinnings. Hedges argues that the movement currently resembles the young fascist movements in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and '30s, movements that often masked the full extent of their drive for totalitarianism and were willing to make concessions until they achieved unrivaled power. The Christian Right, like these early fascist movements, does not openly call for dictatorship, nor does it use
physical violence to suppress opposition. In short, the movement is not yet revolutionary. But the ideological architecture of a Christian fascism is being cemented in place. The movement has roused its followers to a fever pitch of despair and fury. All it will take, Hedges writes, is one more national crisis on the order of September 11 for the Christian Right to make a concerted drive to destroy American democracy. The movement awaits a crisis. At that moment they will reveal themselves for what they truly are -- the American heirs to fascism. Hedges issues a potent, impassioned warning. We face an imminent threat. His book reminds us of the dangers liberal, democratic societies face when they tolerate the intolerant.
At Smarter.com, we aim to ensure we give you the most sound buying advice possible. With our 'Cumulative Product Rating' system, in order for a product to receive a rating score, it must have a minimum number of ratings to qualify.
This system is not intended to diminish the value of products with a low number of ratings and reviews, they're great, and hopefully very helpful, but if you want our advice, we want to make sure that the product you're thinking of buying has been rated and reviewed by enough shoppers like you to be a valuable indicator of product quality.
Additional Product Information
- ISBN: 9780743284431
- Manufacturer:N/A
- Reviews: Write a Review
- Shop: Compare prices
159 Reviews
| From: Amazon Posted: Jun 02, 2008 Type: User Review |
My Candidate for the 2006 Book of the Year Award
This book is a devastating critique of how the Christian right continues to gain influence over American social policy and the American political process by exploiting America's growing social vulnerabilities, and doing so in "the name of the...
|
 5.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: May 02, 2008 Type: User Review |
Look in the mirror and at your friends
Not for right-wing fundamentalists who are self-satisfied. This book is an expose on how good, conservative people have been hood-winked into supporting political positions that promote war, the very antithesis of Christ's "love thy enemy"...
|
5.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: Apr 28, 2008 Type: User Review |
His past stuff was so good...
Hedges' "War is a Force..." was great, but in American Fascists, he gets so caught up in who he's attacking, he forgets both who exactly it is he's after and the dangers in defining oneself only in opposition to another group. Skip it, but read...
|
 1.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: Apr 28, 2008 Type: User Review |
Sales Fear and Sets Up Straw Men
Interesting are the top three reviews of this book, so overly praise worthy of a well written book, rhetorically speaking, yet, flawed thesis that provides emotional appeals but very little evidence. Hedges, who hates that fear is being used as a...
|
 2.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: Apr 24, 2008 Type: User Review |
Frightening Fascism
Great book about a frightening subject. A must-read text for any citizen. The rise of fascism in America is appalling but this book turns the light on so we can all see the roaches scatter. Get out the big shoes and bug spray!
|
 4.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: Apr 24, 2008 Type: User Review |
Evangelicals - American Fascists
This book is an accurate description of the Christian Right. It does not probe what is a deeper and more serious concern and that is the connection between the industrial/military sectors of our nation with special focus on armament producers. The...
|
2.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: Mar 20, 2008 Type: User Review |
Amazing insight
This author has amazing insight into this hideous movement. Contrary to what many might think Chris Hedges latest book is called "I Don't Believe In Atheists" and attacks facist atheists with the same vigor as the so called Christian Right. One...
|
5.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: Mar 14, 2008 Type: User Review |
A Brilliant and Chilling Polemic
America was settled by a mix of adventurers and religious idealists. When the Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, cooler heads prevailed: diests, not zealots. Hence we have the First Amendment to the...
|
5.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: Mar 04, 2008 Type: User Review |
An Insipid, Ignorant, Uninspired Attack on Christianity
I've read the books of today's leading atheists--Hitchens, Harris and Dawkins. I've read their books and know all about their reasons for hating Christianity and despising the very idea of God. They've all sold millions of books and have all...
|
1.00/5 |
| From: Amazon Posted: Feb 06, 2008 Type: User Review |
Very disappointing...
As an evangelical myself who has become extremely distressed by the actions and excesses of the Christian Right, I greatly looked forward to what Hedges may have to say about this phenomenon from another Christian perspective. In the end, though,...
|
2.00/5 |
Similar Products:
- On the Move
- River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.)
- Outrage: How Illegal Immigration, the United Nations, Congressional Ripoffs, Student Loan Overcharges, Tobacco Companies, Trade Protection, and Drug Companies Are Ripping Us Off . . . And
- Our Dumb Century: The Onion Presents 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source
- The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger With Mexico and Canada
- The Prince (Bantam Classics)
*Shipping costs are based on an estimate of the lowest shipping rate available within the contiguous US, excluding Alaska and Hawaii. Only merchants with this product in stock are listed (Merchants with this product back ordered have been removed from this list).
Do you see a pricing error? Please let us know by filling out a simple form: Click here
