THE END OF AMERICA- Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot
By Naomi Wolf
Reviewed by Trevor Jones
The End of America by Naomi Wolf is not a volume describing the end of the American Empire but a warning of the end of the founding principles of the Republic. The design of the book cleverly alludes to the revolution by appearing to be printed on parchment in a type recalling the pamphleteers of the eighteenth century. This makes it a very American book and is an impassioned plea to her fellow Americans to up hold to the principles of the founders in what she describes a ‘fascist shift’ that has occurred in the years of the Bush administration.
Although the case is particularly American the book speaks to the readers outside that country. The ‘War on Terror’ has been exported to the world along with the terror and other democratic governments have used some of the techniques Naomi Wolf outlines. Her case is based on historical examples from fascist and totalitarian regimes, and she builds the book on what she describes as the ‘The Ten Steps to Dictatorship’, these steps represent an action plan which could be enacted in any contemporary democracy.
The ‘Ten Steps’ themselves for example ‘Invoke an External and Internal Threat’ and ‘Cast Criticism as “Espionage” and Dissent as “Treason”, will be familiar to most readers of history and fiction. Each of these steps forms a chapter of the book and Naomi Woof cites historical examples of these strategies drawn from the conduct of various fascist regimes principally Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. She then points out the use of the same strategy by the Bush administration to centralise power, reduce scrutiny and undermine the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.
I found ‘The End of America’ a short well written account of recent history with the purpose to inform, persuade and inspire the reader to thought and action. As Australian readers there is plenty in the book that could apply to our governments’ behaviour.
Source: Australian Options, Issue 52, Autumn 2008, p. 34.