The Secret War Against Hate

Richly researched, impressively annotated, burningly bright … this book takes readers through familiar times and places with fresh research and a vivid narrative style … Personality and media strode hand in hand then, much as now, and Ross alerts us to the deep and ugly history behind today’s trolls and truants … This book should be read by every American who wants to know how courageous men and women can resist hatred. * Kirkus Reviews, starred review *Well-researched and at times shocking … Ross weaves the timelines of these figures together in an easy-to-follow way, showing how they gained power but also highlighting the people and organizations who actively fought against them in public and in spy rings, who each had their own motivations for resisting fascism. Readers will get sucked into the story and want to know what happens next … An excellent ‘hidden history’ book that gives additional context to modern political movements. * Library Journal, starred review *Ross’s work is utterly immersive in its sweeping, decades-long tracing of how some Americans have resisted the contagion of hate … [The Secret War Against Hate is] vital for any citizen concerned with polarized politics and civic abuses … an indispensable manual for safeguarding the future by understanding threats from the past. * Shelf Awareness, starred review *At a time of renewed interest in America’s previous fights with fascism, no one has done more than Steven J. Ross to unearth the epic conflicts and characters at the heart of that history. In The Secret War Against Hate, Ross has found a startling new chapter of our history, surfacing villains worthy of any Hollywood horror franchise, and intrepid heroes whose exploits could be written into a national anthem. This book will be taught and read for decades; the more we learn from it, the stronger we will be for the fights ahead, and for the fights already at hand. A brilliant history, a brilliant story. Bravo * Rachel Maddow, New York Times bestselling author of PREQUEL *Ross has written an engrossing, informative, and timely history of the hate groups that energized the far right in the early postwar decades, the anti-hate organizations that infiltrated them, and the spies who gathered information from (and fomented dissent among) those who hate. * Washington Independent Review of Books *Fascinating … Ross observes that movements and leaders come and go, but ideas persist. Even ideas as thoroughly debunked as white supremacy, or that America was always intended to be a country for whites alone, remain as emotionally and politically charged today as they were immediately after World War II. * California Review of Books *[An] absorbing study of the brave Americans who fought homegrown Nazism … A captivating read. * The Irish Independent *With power and deep insight, Steven Ross has given us the harrowing story of postwar domestic fascism—dripping with racism and antisemitism—and the determined organizations and people who sought to expose its ambitions and defeat it. Eye-opening in content, The Secret War Against Hate is a must-read for anyone interested in the roots of today’s radical right and the prospects for resistance to it. * Steven Hahn, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A NATION UNDER OUR FEET and ILLIBERAL AMERICA *Steven Ross’s timely and impressively researched book draws a through line of the anti-Semitism that emerged in America in the wake of the Holocaust, continued in various iterations, and has reemerged in our day. He paints vivid portraits of the fanatics, dupes, scoundrels and blood-thirsty loonies who peopled the American fascist movements and of those who worked courageously to defeat them. This history of hate and heroic resistance to hate is chilling, inspiring, and vital reading. * Lillian Faderman, author of NAKED IN THE PROMISED LAND and THE GAY REVOLUTION *Steven Ross’s narrative about the Americans who fought to expose and defeat the neo-fascist right in the decades after World War II is highly original, full of insight, and an utterly compelling read. Anyone who wants to understand the roots of the hatemongers who befoul our politics today should read this book. * Michael Kazin, author of WHAT IT TOOK TO WIN: A HISTORY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY *In his gripping new book, Steven J. Ross unflinchingly examines American Hitlerism and efforts to expose it. Recent events bring home tragically the pertinence of Ross’s instructive narrative. * Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard Law School *In this revelatory study, Steven Ross brings out of the shadows a series of far right agitators who have remained largely unknown to both professional scholars and the general public. He convincingly reveals that a fascist tradition has always existed in the United States, while compellingly showing how ordinary Americans have worked to counteract it. Combining original research and sober analysis, the book could not be more timely. * Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, author of THE FOURTH REICH: THE SPECTER OF NAZISM FROM WORLD WAR II TO THE PRESENT *Set against the backdrop of postwar America, Steven Ross’s meticulously researched and engaging narrative illuminates the increasingly pernicious development of White Supremacy and rightwing extremism, and those few organizations and individuals who worked to limit the impact of illiberal forces. He outlines, like few before him, the precedents that frame many of the present-day debates on whether the US should remain an inclusive democracy or revert to atavistic society that limits opportunities for those outside the majority. Despite heroic efforts by civil society to keep these forces at bay after 1945, Ross notes rightly that extremist leaders might pass, “but ideas persist forever.” Understanding the origins of today’s extremisms, the approaches that proved successful in resisting them, and how this past shapes our future make The Secret War Against Hate an indispensable and important contribution to the field * Robert J. Williams, CEO and Finci-Viterbi Chair of the USC Shoah Foundation and UNESCO Chair on Antisemitism and Holocaust Research *

Steven J. Ross is a Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Southern California and Director of the Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life. He is the author of Hitler in Los Angeles, a Los Angeles Times bestseller and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Hollywood Left and Right, which received the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Film Scholars Award, and Working-Class Hollywood, named a Best Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Times. He lives in Southern California.

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