Too Close for Comfort: The Fascist Potential in the U.S. Political Tradition

by Chip Berlet

This timely and comprehensive book analyzes how reactionary movements from Pat Buchanan's presidential campaign to armed militia activity are the natural outgrowth of populist and fascist seeds sown throughout U.S. history. Too Close for Comfort argues that over time, right-wing, anti-democratic movements have used the same set of tools to reach out to disgruntled Americans and discredit progressive ideas: demagoguery, scapegoating, prejudice, and conspiracy theories about a secret elite manipulating the government, economy, and culture. This tradition, Berlet and Lyons warn, offers fertile soil for the growth of fascist pseudo-radicalism and "populist" facism in contemporary movements that oppose the status quo but are not in the least progressive.

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