Fascism on Trial: The Crisis of Politics, Education, and Agency

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This book interrogates rising fascism in America. It spotlights the major facets of fascism that increasingly characterize contemporary U.S. politics, in relation to political authoritarianism, the rise of anti-intellectualism, the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories, the glorification of political street violence and state violence, rising white supremacy, and the militarization of U.S. political discourse. Alongside this, Giroux and DiMaggio show how the assault on critical education and pedagogy is central to the fascist program. They stress the importance of reprioritizing education as a public good to combating fascist politics and ideology and draw links between fascism and the banning of books in schools, whitewashing history, and punishing policies aimed at Black, Brown, and transgender youth. They challenge the commonly embraced notion that Trumpism is primarily a function of economic insecurity within his support base, documenting how support for the former president primarily centered on reactionary socio-cultural values and white supremacy. They also show how white supremacist values are central to the Trump base defending the January 6th insurrection, despite academics, journalists, and political officials in both major parties ignoring the threat of rising white nationalism.

Author Bio

Henry A. Giroux holds the Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University, Canada. His books include American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Fascism (2018), On Critical Pedagogy, 2nd Edition (Bloomsbury, 2020), Race, Politics, and Pandemic Pedagogy (Bloomsbury, 2021), Pedagogy of Resistance (Bloomsbury, 2022) and Insurrections (Bloomsbury, 2023). Anthony R. DiMaggio is Associate Professor of Political Science at Lehigh University, USA. He is the author of Selling War, Selling Hope (2015), Political Power in America (2019) and Rebellion in America (2020).