Fascism: A Warning Hardcover – April 10, 2018 by Madeleine Albright (Harper)

Madeleine Albright is a former UN Ambassador and Secretary of State, with a long and honorable career serving the United States. Her personal history is compelling: born in Czechoslovakia shortly before World War II, she and her parents fled first Hitler and then, during the beginning of the Cold War, from Stalin. She did not learn until she was an adult that several family members, including grandparents, died in the Holocaust. This tragic history, combined with her astute intelligence and common sense, sharpens her pen and her powers of observation. Fascism: A Warning is her sixth book and is perhaps her most important work to date, as the world seems to face what many fear could be a long period of darkness.

Albright is careful to warn against the indiscriminate use of the term "fascism," and she very properly begins this book with a discussion of its proper usage and meaning. Beginning with the origins of the term in the early twentieth century, she traces the development of Fascist regimes and leaders who promote Fascism, from Mussolini and Hitler through Stalin (who raged against Fascism while practicing it to an advanced degree) through to the present. Erdogan, Orban, Milosevic, the Kim dynasty, and Putin are some of the many practicing Fascists Albright covers. Donald Trump has a chapter devoted specifically to him, but Albright is not writing a partisan screed by any means, merely analyzing the man's behavior and actions and demonstrating their disturbing similarities to leaders who clearly practice Fascism. Perhaps the most important chapters are the final two, in which Albright enumerates the danger signs for the United States and the world and provides a series of questions to ask and steps to take for concerned citizens.

This is a book written for the general reader which does not abandon scholarly rigor. It is extensively documented with a Notes section that will be an excellent resource for those of us who wish to learn and study more. In 2018 the way forward for the United States and the world is uncertain, but we are still fortunate (so far) to have strong and confident voices like Albright's to guide us.