#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Rachel Maddow traces
the fight to preserve American democracy back to World War II, when a handful
of committed public servants and brave private citizens thwarted far-right
plotters trying to steer our nation toward an alliance with the Nazis.
“A ripping read—well rendered, fast-paced and
delivered with the same punch and assurance that she brings to a broadcast. . .
. The parallels to the present day are strong, even startling.”—The New York
Times (Editors’ Choice)
Inspired by
her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild
American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge
of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our
troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded
the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war
effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis,
not against it. It was a sophisticated and shockingly well-funded campaign to
undermine democratic institutions, promote antisemitism, and destroy citizens’
confidence in their elected leaders, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the
U.S. government and installing authoritarian rule.
That effort
worked—tongue and groove—alongside an ultra-right paramilitary movement that
stockpiled bombs and weapons and trained for mass murder and violent
insurrection.
At the same
time, a handful of extraordinary activists and journalists were tracking the
scheme, exposing it even as it was unfolding. In 1941 the U.S. Department of
Justice finally made a frontal attack, identifying the key plotters, finding
their backers, and prosecuting dozens in federal court.
None of it
went as planned.
While the
scheme has been remembered in history—if at all—as the work of fringe players,
in reality it involved a large number of some of the country’s most influential
elected officials. Their interference in law enforcement efforts against the
plot is a dark story of the rule of law bending and then breaking under the
weight of political intimidation.
That
failure of the legal system had consequences. The tentacles of that unslain
beast have reached forward into our history for decades. But the heroic efforts
of the activists, journalists, prosecutors, and regular citizens who sought to
expose the insurrectionists also make for a deeply resonant, deeply relevant
tale in our own disquieting times.
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