Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism

 

Rachel Maddow's new book Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism reminds us of the struggles waged against American far right groups in the '30s and '40s. Long neglected by historians, this topic has received significant attention in recent years due to its obvious timeliness, with books like Charles Gallagher's Nazis of Copley Square and Steven J. Ross's Hitler in Los Angeles exploring specific groups and movements of Nazi sympathizers and their disturbing parallels to the alt-right. Maddow (building on her podcast) ties these stories together into an engaging narrative, introducing (or reintroducing) readers to the creeps, crooks and would-be dictators who sought to emulate Hitler. Some of these movements are relatively well-known, like the Nazi-backed German-American Bund, racist "Radio Priest" Father Charles Coughlin, and Charles Lindbergh's America First movement. Others, however, are so bizarre: William Dudley Pelley's wacko Silver Shirts, a combination political movement-religious cult that preached spiritual enlightenment through extermination of Jews; George Deatheridge, a professional Southern bigot who orchestrated an elaborate plot to overthrow the American government in the late '30s; George Van Horn Moseley, a high-ranking Army General who ranted about Jewish conspiracies and toyed with becoming America's Fuhrer; Lawrence James, the Nazi intellectual who proved to be a Black man "passing" as a white fascist . Where historians often tend to dismiss or downplay these groups, Maddow makes clear that, if often ineffectual in practice, their ideology and intentions were extremely serious, plotting massacres of Jews, mass poisoning of celebrities and plotting against the government. She also demonstrates that a shocking number of isolationist congressmen, including well-known figures Burton K. Wheeler and Hamilton Fish, were actively fed Nazi propaganda by German agent George Sylvester Viereck (who besides his fascist activities, Maddow tells us, authored "the first gay vampire novel in history"). Maddow demonstrates how a team of unlikely heroes, from journalists Eric Sevareid and Arthur Derounian to Los Angeles businessman Leon Lewis and prosecutor O. John Rogge, worked to expose and foil their efforts, to general ridicule and indifference. A circuslike Sedition Trial of key fascist leaders in 1944 fizzled out when the Judge died during the trial; afterwards, the Justice Department buried Rogge's report, allowing the indicted to escape justice. Maddow's book is well-researched and fluently written, though her snarky, conversational style (referring to one pro-Nazi businessman as a "gazillionaire" or wondering if James would make a killing on Substack today) might grate on some readers. Still, Maddow's to be commended for re-introducing this subject to a wider audience; hopefully, readers will take the appropriate lessons from her work.

Rating: 4/5

Note: I wrote a series of articles on this general subject in 2018, which can be read here.