The Best Book I Read This Month: How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley

The best book I read this month is the second book that I think is essential for understanding what is happening in the United States right now. (Wild Faith by Talia Lavin is the first.) Jason Stanley’s How Fascism Works explains, in plain language, the ten components of fascism. He cites historical examples and explains how each component manipulates the public to ensure support for, or at least a lack of resistance to, the fascist agenda.

Originally written early in Trump’s first administration, the edition I read was updated to include the COVID pandemic. And it’s all there: everything Trump tried to do the first time around and everything that he and his fellow kleptocrats are doing now to destroy American democracy. Stanley provides clear explanations for the methods and purposes of these actions, as well as their precedents in history. It’s chilling.

It’s no coincidence that Stanley and Timothy Snyder, two American experts in fascism, have left the country. (Both have accepted positions at the University of Toronto.) Their work threatens Trump’s power by exposing his goals and methods—and criticizing them in defense of democracy. Push comes to shove, I may delete this review too at some point. The emperor does not like being told he’s not wearing any clothes.

The Best Book I Read This Month: Micro Activism by Omkari L. Williams

The best book I read this month was short and powerful: Micro Activism by Omkari L. Williams.

Monday’s presidential inauguration left me feeling helpless. The subsequent executive orders overwhelmed me. I wanted to do something. I needed to do something. But what? I have limited time, finite resources, and no connections. How would I even begin?

Enter Omkari Williams’s Micro Activism. I’ve had it in my TBR pile for a while, and thank goodness I did. I pulled it out and read it in one night. It was just what I needed.

Micro Activism is an accessible, practical handbook for figuring out what each of us can do to improve our community, our country, our world. The idea is that we don’t have to do big things. We can make a difference by doing focused small things, as long as we do them consistently.

I found Williams’s advice very down-to-earth and her exercises very helpful in making my own plan. I discovered that things I’ve been doing for other reasons, like volunteering with a local animal rescue, are in fact activism. I found that discovery rather comforting. Equally comforting was Williams’s advice to take care of ourselves and to focus our efforts on one or two causes so we don’t burn out. There is a lot of work to do, and it’s going to take a long time to do it. We need to sustain ourselves so we can make it through the long haul.

I highly recommend this book. It’s helpful in finding a path to activism, and it’s validating for those who are already in the fight.

The Best Book I Read This Month: Wild Faith by Talia Levin

The best book I read this month was perhaps not the best choice to read before this year’s presidential election, as it ramped up my election anxiety exponentially. Having said, that, the book is definitely worth reading. Talia Lavin’s Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America recounts the rise of Christian nationalism in the United States and the movement’s efforts to reshape the nation, its government, and its society in their image. It is eye-opening and terrifying and enraging.

At this point, I don’t have more words than that. I’m still digesting what I read. But it left me with an even stronger conviction that the Christian right—Christian nationalists, Christian fascists—are the greatest danger this country faces in our lifetime.

But don’t take my word for it. Read Wild Faith. Lavin lays it all out very clearly.

The Best Book I Read This Month: The Undertow by Jeff Sharlet

The best book I read this month was not a feel-good read. In fact, I found it profoundly disturbing. The Undertow by Jeff Sharlet is a collection of essays about the MAGA movement. It was, to say the least, an eye-opening read.

Published in 2023, The Undertow blends a cross-country roadtrip with political commentary. As Sharlet travels across the United States, he stops to attend Trump rallies and meet Trump supporters. He records these interactions in a series of essays that touch on the legacy of Ashli Babbitt and the January 6th insurrection, the worship of Donald Trump by his MAGA followers, and the depth of those followers’ devotion.

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, I found it all extremely disturbing. My main takeaway is that MAGA is a cult and Trump is its leader. I believed that before, and this book reinforced my conclusion. Trump’s followers follow him blindly. He can do no wrong. They believe he possesses secret knowledge and that he communicates with them in code. They believe he is divinely inspired. They believe—if I may quote the Blues Brothers—they “are on a mission from God.” They are truly divorced from reality.

Most frightening of all is their delight in and thirst for violence. More than once, Sharlet feared for his own safety in their presence. These are people who all seem eager for a fight, who yearn for bloodshed, who feel justified in using violence against those who disagree with them. They worship their guns as much as they worship Trump.

The whole book left me feeling very unsettled and very worried about what will happen in November’s election. But now, at least, I have a better idea of what we’re up against.

The Best Book I Read This Month: A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan

The best book I read this month was a disturbing account of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana in the 1920s. A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan charts the rise and spread of the KKK in the early 20th century, focusing on D. C. Stephenson and his control of the KKK and Indiana.

It was a harrowing read. Egan did not sugarcoat the Klan’s hate and violence, or D. C. Stephenson’s. At times, it was hard to stomach. Stephenson had all the markings of a sadist, and in many ways, reminded me of a certain Republican former president/current presidential candidate. (I refuse to use his name.) Both made a practice of not paying their debts. Both had unquenchable thirst for power. Both had a history of sexual violence and sexual assault. Both avoided consequences for their crimes until a woman called them to account.

Egan’s tale is not just about D. C. Stephenson. It’s about those who tried to stop him and the young woman who eventually did: Madge Oberholtzer. Madge was educated, independent, strong—everything we imagine a young woman of the 1920s to be. To her, Stephenson was a path to a career. To Stephenson, she was a conquest waiting to happen. Stephenson ultimately took what he wanted, but unlike his other victims, Oberholtzer fought back in a dramatic and public way.
As difficult as this was to read in places, it also gave me hope. D. C. Stephenson was a monster but his reign of terror finally ended and he finally faced legal consequences (conviction and prison) for his actions. That gives me hope that our current monster will also finally face legal consequences for his actions. As of this writing, he’s been convicted in New York but has not yet been sentenced. He is also awaiting trial in Florida and Georgia. Maybe, maybe, maybe he too will end up behind bars, where he belongs.