Fascism

A Warning

By: Madeleine Albright

Narrated by: Madeleine Albright

Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

The #1 NYT BESTSELLER

A personal and urgent examination of Fascism in the twentieth century and how its legacy shapes today’s world, written by one of America’s most admired public servants, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state.

A Fascist, observes Madeleine Albright, ‘is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have.’

The twentieth century was defined by the clash between democracy and Fascism, a struggle that created uncertainty about the survival of human freedom and left millions of innocent people dead. Given the horrors of that experience, one might expect the world to reject the spiritual successors to Hitler and Mussolini should they arise in our era. In Fascism: A Warning, Madeleine Albright, draws on her own experiences as a child in war-torn Europe and her distinguished career as a diplomat to question that very assumption.

Fascism, as Albright shows, not only endured through the course of the twentieth century, but now presents a more virulent threat to international peace and justice than at any time since the end of World War II. The momentum toward democracy that swept the world when the Berlin Wall fell has gone into reverse. The United States, which has historically championed the free world, is led by a president who exacerbates popular divisions and heaps scorn on democratic institutions. In many countries, economic, technological and cultural factors are weakening the political centre and empowering the extremes of right and left. Contemporary leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are employing many of the same tactics used by Fascists in the 1920s and 30s.

Fascism: A Warning is a book for our times that is relevant to all times. Written with wisdom by someone who has not only studied history but helped to shape it, this call to arms teaches us the lessons we must understand and the questions we must answer if we are to save ourselves from repeating the tragic errors of the past.

©2018 Madeleine Albright (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"One of the most diverting political bios in recent memory." (Entertainment Weekly)

"Her portraits of foreign leaders are lively and evocative...The result is a book that creates a sense of policy made by real people." (New Yorker)

"Madeleine Albright has written a different kind of memoir...It’s Albright unplugged." (USA Today)

True to its title, interesting and insightful

Very good and interesting audio book to listen. Very easy to follow and interesting to hear from Mrs. Albright's point of view with her vast diplomatic experience. The book starts with the history of fascism, then talks about current authoritarian regimes around the world that touch some aspects of fascism and then about Donald Trump and his "accomplishments".
I found the book to have a collection of interesting ideas, insights and I completely agree with most things Mrs. Albright is saying. My only criticism, which is barely mentioned, is the fact that a listener of this book would have to assume that before the election of Donald Trump, the foreign policy of the USA has been forged by angels, with altruistic motives and with nothing but Democratic values at heart when this is not the case for any country. A tiny acknowledgement of this has been offered but not enough in my opinion.

Peak american exceptionalism and blindness

Hugo Chavez was not a good person, and I'm in no way defending him.

However given the over a century of attrocities committed in central and south america by US troops, its entirely justified that any South (or Central) american leader would object to a DEMAND that the US be allowed to deploy significant numbers of marines... as part of the conditions for getting aid in a disaster.

The fact that the author condemned Chavez for being wary of a documented history of US excuses for their colonial endevaours, showed she had no business warning about other people's fascism.

I did put up with her snide critique of progressive voices, because I was interested in her alternative perspective, but the Chavez blunder was too much.