Department of Book Reports 43: The End of America

Naomi Wolf’s The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (Chelsea Green $13.95) is a short polemic that examines our collapsing liberties, a process that has greatly accelerated during the Bush regime. Written as letter to a young friend who immigrated to the U.S. at the end of the Viet Nam war, Wolf shows how we are moving, and moving swiftly, to an authoritarian state, a development she calls the “fascist shift”.


She looks at the ten points that define a fascist state, provides many examples, and pretty scares the holy hell out her readers. Here is her top ten list. I’m sure you know of many these steps yourself:




Invoke an external and an internal threat
Establish secret prisons
Develop a paramilitary force
Surveil Ordinary Citizens
Infiltrate citizen groups
Arbitrarily detain and release citizens
Target key individuals
Restrict the Press
Cast criticism as “Espionage” and dissent as “Treason”
Subvert the rule of law


I try to be careful when using the term “fascist” or “Nazi”. Too often people Progressives use these terms loosely and without care. However, Wolf’s case is persuasive. We are in deep trouble.

But Wolf also has a final chapter, “The Patriot’s Task”, in which she calls for all good citizens to action. We must take back our country, and hold those who have initiated this road to ruin, accountable.

She concludes: “So it turns out we really are at war-, a long war, a global war, a war for our civilization.

It is a war to save our democracy.

Each one of us needs to enlist. We have no one to spare”.



The End of America is available at Jackson Street Books and other fine independent bookstores.



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