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
center 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.
