Fascism on Trial: Education and the Possibility of Democracy

This book interrogates rising fascism in America. It spotlights the major facets of fascism that increasingly characterize contemporary US politics, in relation to political authoritarianism, the rise of anti-intellectualism, the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories, the glorification of political street violence and state violence, rising white supremacy, and the militarization of US political discourse. Alongside this, Giroux and DiMaggio show how the assault on critical education and pedagogy is central to the fascist program. They stress the importance of reprioritizing education as a public good to combating fascist politics and ideology and draw links between fascism and the banning of books in schools, whitewashing history, and punishing policies aimed at Black, Brown, and transgender youth. They challenge the commonly embraced notion that Trumpism is primarily a function of economic insecurity within his support base, documenting how support for the former president primarily centered on reactionary socio-cultural values and white supremacy. They also show how white supremacist values are central to the Trump base defending the January 6th insurrection, despite academics, journalists, and political officials in both major parties ignoring the threat of rising white nationalism.


About the Author

Henry A. Giroux holds the Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University, Canada. His books include Insurrections (Bloomsbury, 2023), Pedagogy of Resistance (Bloomsbury, 2022), Race, Politics, and Pandemic Pedagogy (Bloomsbury, 2021), On Critical Pedagogy, 2nd Edition (Bloomsbury, 2020) and American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Fascism (2018).

Anthony R. DiMaggio is Associate Professor of Political Science at Lehigh University, USA. He is the author of Rebellion in America (2020), Political Power in America (2019) and Selling War, Selling Hope (2015).