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An international bestseller, this “excellent” (Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny), urgent book outlines how fascism has returned to the mainstream—and how we can stop it
Fascism is back. This time no swastikas or concentration camps, but MAGA hats and masked immigration officers. In his second term, Donald Trump is putting together a fascist regime. Not only Trump’s political adversaries say so; his own former advisers do, too. Internationally renowned scholars—experts in the field of fascism—say the evidence is overwhelming: Fascism is on the rise, not just in the US but around the world.
Political scientist Rosan Smits topples the strongly held conviction in the West that our established democracies are immune. They are not. Fascism wasn’t just born in the West; it’s where new variants are being incubated. And these modern variants pose a threat not only to our national democracies but the international rules-based order built on law and human rights. The illusion that “it can’t happen here” makes us vulnerable and apathetic, precisely at a moment when action is still possible.
Standing up against emerging fascism requires collective action. Nothing is inevitable in politics, and fascism doesn’t stand a chance if enough people understand that an attack on one person’s freedom is an attack on everyone’s freedom.
If, in short, enough people understand: This is fascism.
“This book is a distress signal. Rosan Smits makes it crystal clear how fascism is being normalized at alarming speed. Think it can't happen in Western democracies? Then read this book—because it already is.”—Rutger Bregman, author of Moral Ambition and Humankind
“A masterful and chilling dissection of the modern ideology of hate.”—Paul Mason, author of How to Stop Fascism
“After a decade of debate about the nature of the global far right, Rosan Smits amasses the evidence and the competing analyses to produce a definitive judgment: This Is Fascism. A necessary read to understand the challenge we face now from the xenophobic ideology destroying democracies across the west. We cannot act unless we know what we face and with this work Rosan Smits has settled that question.”—Jason Stanley, author of the New York Times–bestselling How Fascism Works
“An excellent read.”—Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny
“Few journalists address the major issues of our time. Rosan Smits does. She explains clearly and convincingly what fascism is and why we need to use the word now. A necessary book.”—Simon Kuper, Financial Times journalist
“This book is a mirror. And we would be foolish not to look.”—Carice van Houten, award-winning Game of Thrones actress
“Brilliant.”—Alastair Campbell, host of The Rest Is Politics