I'm sure this book (from the title alone) is going to upset alot of people (see: Jimmy Carter). That notwithstanding, in his latest controversial work, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America, author Chris Hedges examines the growing right-wing fundamentalist movement in America and argues that it resembles the early fascist, cult-like movements of Germany and Italy in the 1920's and 30's. Regardless of where you stand, this book is bound to spark some serious debate.

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American Fascists examines the movement's origins, its driving motivations and its dark ideological underpinnings. Hedges argues that the movement currently resembles the young fascist movements in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and '30s, movements that often masked the full extent of their drive for totalitarianism and were willing to make concessions until they achieved unrivaled power.

The Christian Right, like these early fascist movements, does not openly call for dictatorship, nor does it use physical violence to suppress opposition. In short, the movement is not yet revolutionary. But the ideological architecture of a Christian fascism is being cemented in place. The movement has roused its followers to a fever pitch of despair and fury. All it will take, Hedges writes, is one more national crisis on the order of September 11 for the Christian Right to make a concerted drive to destroy American democracy. The movement awaits a crisis. At that moment they will reveal themselves for what they truly are — the American heirs to fascism. Hedges issues a potent, impassioned warning. We face an imminent threat. His book reminds us of the dangers liberal, democratic societies face when they tolerate the intolerant.