How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley

 

    People have a tendency to believe that they are immune to fascism. That it would happen abruptly, and we will suddenly find ourselves living in World War II times. On the contrary, it is subtle, with systems changing right before our eyes at a slow and steady pace. That is, until the fascist regime does such a horrendous act that it affects everyone--you--in a way that cannot be ignored. In this book, Stanley discusses what he believes are the ten components of fascism that facilitate these subtle changes by analyzing the commonalities between fascist regimes, their rulers, and their evolutions over time. 

    I enjoyed this book because as I was listening to it, I could find (many) commonalities between the tactics he described in the book and the things I learned while in African American history class. Americans have utilized in-group vs out-group tactics since the beginning of slavery, through Jim Crow, and still even today. It's extremely visible in how the Trump Administration speaks of immigrants, calling them aliens and savages. This language dehumanizes them, goading those who do not wish to critically think into believing immigrants are the enemy. This is then reinforced by news outlets highlighting crimes or other disturbances some immigrants may (or may not) have done, while forgoing all other aspects of immigrants lives and how they contribute to the very country that seems to despise them. This has been happening for years to black people, and now it is also clearly happening to immigrants (and this isn't even the first time).

    I believe the scariest part of reading this book and feeling the parallels is that many of the chapters applied. We watch as our education system gets dismantled, as people are deported for speaking out, and the rich get richer. Even down to the things Trump says, everything can be seen within this book. All of this happening to mold the country into a distorted image of America, and yet we stand divided as ever.

    Despite it all, I enjoy how the book ends on hope built on standing together. Working together is the way forward, as shown throughout history, we just have to find our way there. I think this book offers valuable insight into the current political climate, while also teaching its readers history that should never be forgotten. Please give this book a read. The knowledge you gain can not just open your eyes, but the eyes of anyone you choose to share it with.

- Leo H.

The Most by Jessica Anthony

 

This 2024 novel is a quickly and easily read fiction piece that might be considered a novella. There is nothing excessive in this 133-page, richly told story. Every informative word seems carefully chosen and assembled with an almost poetic quality. I was drawn by its cover descriptions including: "The Most charges the air like a thunderclap," and "a novel of ruthless beauty." The title refers to a tennis maneuver, the relevance of which is a key part of the story. 

It's set in the mid-century. Virgil and Kathleen Beckett are just out of a New England university and newly married (a commitment perhaps made too soon). There is solid affection between them but each has secrets, each makes mistakes, and neither is emotionally mature enough to resist committing numerous indiscretions in the early years of their marriage, that each keeps hidden from the other. Virgil married for love; Kathleen more for convenience. Therefore she has the upper hand in some ways. But like so many women of that era, she did not get from marriage what she thought she had bargained for. 

As a character, Kathleen could have been drafted from  the societal issues explored in Betty Friedan's 1963 classic The Feminine Mystique: A woman driven slightly mad on occasion by the social and professional limitations of her life. Her disturbance is expressed now and then by just-so-slightly erratic behavior. The author connects the dots of Kathleen's life to explain an episodic behavioral deviance that sometimes embarrasses and exasperates the seemingly conventional husband who otherwise adores and deeply admires her. 

Oddly, in an era of post-war prosperity in the United States, these two university-educated people seem held back from achieving the economic promise of their time. In their mid-30s, they don't have much to show for their comparatively privileged positions in the world. Former college tennis champion Kathleen has a more ambitious, driven character than her laid-back husband, but in the cultural and economic milieu of that era there is little she can do to improve the sometimes depressingly dingy conditions in which she, Virgil, and their two young sons live. 

This is the intriguing part: within this story's framework there is something sinister lurking between the lines. This marriage feels like a sham. Neither Kathleen nor Virgil has completely shaken off the reverberations of their past indiscretions. It feels all along as if the chickens of husband and wife are going to come home to roost in some terrible way that destroys everybody. And yet, at the end, the tables turn. The chickens do come home - all of them, yet the conclusion is not the explosion you expect, but something else entirely. It leaves you hanging a little bit, wanting to know more, and to learn the next chapter for this conventional-appearing, complicated couple.          

The Most is now in the FMPL collection. 

- Marianne W.

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

 

Hanna and Suzette are at odds, jealous over each other's relationship to Alex. Hanna decides the only feasible outcome is to eliminate the competition. Their story unfolds in alternating chapters, building to a fiery Walpurgisnacht and its sputtering aftermath. 

Hanna is seven and Suzette and Alex are her parents. 

It's a pretty wildly uneven book and to be honest, I hated it most of the time. Suzette and Alex are so bland and self-absorbed I couldn't tell if they were intentionally satirical or not. Suzette's main characteristics are obsessive cleaning and Crohn's Disease and really, mainly Crohn's Disease. It is a surprise just how much Crohn's Disease can define a character. Alex is Hot Swedish Gym Daddy. Too much of the tension relied on will Suzette be smart enough to record her daughter's bizarre outbursts? And will Alex ever stop explosively and irrationally defending his "lilla gumman"? 

All of this would be slightly more bearable if Hanna were an entertaining, well-written, compelling character. But there's hardly consistency with her voice: She has an adult's intelligence and vocabulary but occasionally uses babytalk and is astoundingly stupid. I thought the book might at least be silly and fun after Hanna punches a toddler at Trader Joe's, but it doesn't get fun for a long time after that. Hanna pretends to be possessed by a witch, makes a heinous collage, and incites a special needs boy to bash his head against a wall and Alex still won't acknowledge all is not right in their sunlit eco-friendly dream home. 

What will be the limit? Maybe I'll leave that to you to discover if you decide to give it a go. I will say, the ending held a surprise for me that I enjoyed but didn't make the overall reading experience much better. 

For a more claustrophobic and horrifying story that has similar themes, I recommend The Push by Audrey Audrain. 

- Michael G.