Anyone else reading "Prequel" by Rachel Maddow.

[CTyankee]

It is her account of the run-up to World War II in this country and the plots for armed attacks on U.S. government targets in the immediate aftermath of FDR's likely re-election in 1940, hoping to radicalize anti-Roosevelt Americans, culminating in an armed takeover of the U.S. Government and the installation of something more like a fascist dictatorship. And the fact that they got an astonishing amount of support from federal elected officials who were eager to help them in their plot.

This is a scary book. I've just started it but I think it is a going to be an alarming bit of history. Is Maddow overstating her case? I fear not...

[mahina]

1. Yes I am and no, she certainly is not.

[CTyankee]

2. Did you know this history (or he extent to which it was appallingly true)...

[mahina]

35. I don't know yet.

I’ve caught her special podcasts and had never heard any of it before.

[Deep State Witch]

3. Reading it right now

A lot of it is expanding on what she was talking about in her podcast "Ultra".

[no_hypocrisy]

4. She's not overstating the facts.

I independently learned about the Plot to overthrow FDR. Prescott Bush (George H.W. Bush's father) was a participant. The band of business magnates wanted to shut down the New Deal ASAP. They recruited Col. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler to lead the coupe. Instead, he went to Congress and thwarted their plan. (BTW, Gen. Butler is the author of "War Is a Racket".)

I knew of Henry Ford and his Dearborn Independent publication, which was incredibly antisemitic. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't embolden Father Charles Coughlin a few years later. I knew of Hitler having a portrait of Henry Ford hanging in his office. I knew that the Nazis were watching the cracks in American democracy in order to take over Germany and make it into a fascist state. Example: the Nazis were impressed with the 1927 case of Buck v Bell where the USSC ruled that the government could legally sterilize a citizen if it was found that the individual was "defective" physically, mentally, or psychiatrically. The Nazis borrowed that from the U.S. and "developed" it further into corralling "undesirables" into concentration camps under the guise of "quarantine" and later, for extermination.

I've made it a point to study American history, but specifically the parts that they don't teach you in high school.

[LiberalFighter]

18. There is a lot of history not taught.

Not enough time to learn it all.

And they prefer not covering anything making America look bad.

[yellowdogintexas]

27. I have been obsessed with her interviews and lectures from her

book tour on You Tube

[LiberalFighter]

37. There is so much history. In both high school and college.

Especially in college, teachers (professors) have their degree in specific parts of history.

[Evolve Dammit]

19. great post. Kudos

[Ocelot II]

5. Just finished it - listened to the audiobook, actually,

which she read herself, quite well. Scared the bejeebers out of me. They say history doesn't repeat itself but it certainly echoes. A whole lot of what we are seeing now already happened in the '30s and '40s, including attempts at election influence by a foreign government with the help of Americans in high places. And there was Father Coughlin, the Rush Limbaugh/Tucker Carlson of the time, who was enormously influential through his radio broadcasts. But now we have something more powerful than radio: social media, much of it in the hands of the likes of Elon Musk and Trump himself. And Fox "News." Same shit, different day, and more of it.

[Evolve Dammit]

20. on steroids and hyperlinked

[Happy Hoosier]

6. Finished it a couple weeks ago...

… I’m a huge Maddow fan. It’s terrifying how close we came to disaster and how we are heading down the same road today.

[CTyankee]

8. reminding us that our freedom under a constitutional government is always at risk for takeover by fascist leaning

factions. We are a rich target...rich in resources and talent. The fascists want it theirs very badly...of course...we always must be vigilant.

[malaise]

7. The problem is that these facts are not taught in high schools

Colleges or universities. Globally we have this pretense about democracy as if there aren’t ongoing threats all the time.

Some group (s) of people do not want people to know their real history.

[CTyankee]

9. I hope that is changing now....and people are waking up to the Maddow's of our media who are telling us the truth.

[Evolve Dammit]

21. sadly it depends on where you live and who controls your school board. All politics is local. That

said, the truth should not be subject to politics, but it is.

[Rebl2]

12. I graduated

in the seventies and I don’t ever remember hearing about this. It’s frightening.

[malaise]

13. Rachel Maddow is a rare person in the media

Last edited Sun Nov 26, 2023, 08:34 PM - Edit history (1)

She has both a Masters and a PhD in political science. She does quality research always seeking knowledge about US
domestic politics.
It is breathtaking to watch her exposing the lazy academics in our colleges and universities with her quality research.

[Evolve Dammit]

22. Rhodes Scholar too

[malaise]

23. Indeed

Stanford and Oxford aren’t too shabby either

[Evolve Dammit]

24. Think she was political science at Columbia as well? In any case, a national treasure IMHO.

[malaise]

26. Agree 100% n/t

:

[MOMFUDSKI]

10. Just finished it. Then I watched Rachel and

Chris Hayes on the book. The most heartening thing to come out of Rachel’s mouth was that the title of the book Prequel means we fought the bad guys and WON. And we can win again. We are in the battle of our lives.

[ificandream]

11. I'm using my Audible credit next month for this one.

[cachukis]

14. Most of my college chums are Republican.

I graduated in 1974. Interestingly, many of us are still a close knit bunch.
But I moved away.
We recently did a big chill reunion in a 1912, 7 bedroom, overlooking the rocky seawall in North Hampton, NH.
Top shelf wedding in Portsmouth.

Deaf ears. The world they live in has been rewarding. I was not around as the counterpoint for the last forty years.

They are unaware of having been propagandized, accusing me of the cause of trump.

We have demonized him and his defenders will protect his legacy as a great president. We are using the deep state of legalese to bring him down.

These are financially successful people. They work among others who believe the same things and are comfortable with their arrangements.

They believe in strict management of those who have not entered into their world.

I tell them that they worry me.
They move on unworried.

[Kid Berwyn]

15. Discussed it on DU since at least 2009...

Smedley Butler Stopped American Fascist Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6150066

There were previous discussions, but my search is limited.

[murielm99]

16. I am reading something else right now,

but I am going to order it from my local (independent) bookstore tomorrow.

Thanks for the reminder!

[niyad]

17. It is indeed scary, and, no, not even overstating a little. That this

informatiin is so little known does not bode well for our democracy.

[yellowdogintexas]

25. Our Liberal Ladies Who Lunch group is planning to read it

but we are going to wait so we can get copies at Half Price Books or from the library.

Before I listened to Ultra, I had read another book. Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in WW2 Era America.

The stunning true story of the rise of Nazism in America in the years leading to WWII—and the fearless Jewish gangsters and crime families who joined forces to fight back. With an intense cinematic style, acclaimed nonfiction crime author Michael Benson reveals the thrilling role of Jewish mobsters like Bugsy Siegel in stomping out the terrifying tide of Nazi sympathizers during the 1930s and 1940s.

As Adolph Hitler rose to power in 1930s Germany, a growing wave of fascism began to take root on American soil. Nazi activists started to gather in major American cities, and by 1933, there were more than one-hundred anti-Semitic groups operating openly in the United States. Few Americans dared to speak out or fight back—until an organized resistance of notorious mobsters waged their own personal war against the Nazis in their midst. Gangland-style. . . .

In this thrilling blow-by-blow account, acclaimed crime writer Michael Benson uncovers the shocking truth about the insidious rise of Nazism in America—and the Jewish mobsters who stomped it out. Learn about:

* Nazi Town, USA: How one Long Island community named a street after Hitler, decorated buildings with swastikas, and set up a camp to teach US citizens how to goosestep.

* Meyer Lansky and Murder Inc.: How a Jewish mob accountant led fifteen goons on a joint family mission to bust heads at a Brown Shirt rally in Manhattan.

* Fritz Kuhn, “The Vest-Pocket Hitler”: How a German immigrant spread Nazi propaganda through the American Bund in New York City—with 70 branches across the US.

* Newark Nazis vs The Minutemen: How a Jewish resistance group, led by a prize fighter and bootlegger for the mob, waged war on the Bund in the streets of Newark.

* Hitler in Hollywoodland: How Sunset Strip kingpin Mickey Cohen knocked two Brown Shirters’ heads together—and became the West Coast champion in the mob’s war on Nazis.

Packed with surprising, little-known facts, graphic details, and unforgettable personalities, Gangsters vs. Nazis chronicles the mob’s most ruthless tactics in taking down fascism—inspiring ordinary Americans to join them in their fight. The book culminates in one of the most infamous events of the pre-war era—the 1939 Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden—in which law-abiding citizens stood alongside hardened criminals to fight for the soul of a nation. This is the story of the mob that’s rarely told—one of the most fascinating chapters in American history and American organized crime.

I am glad books are coming out about this.

[JustAnotherGen]

32. I'm going to have

To read this.

[lordsummerisle]

28. Reading it

it's quite disturbing. Hard to beat Rachel for telling a compelling story...

[dflprincess]

29. Just bought it but haven't started it yet

I heard a local radio host on our progressive station talking about it. He mentioned that he's glad the main terminal at MSP is no longer called Lindbergh & that it should be removed from anywhere it appears in the state. Based on what I heard in her podcast I'm inclined to agree.

[Upthevibe]

30. CTyankee.........

I saw her on her book tour of Prequel In Culver City, CA on 10/22. She was great!

I just now saw a recording of her book tour with Chris Hayes in New York on Peacock. They were both excellent. They talked about what went on in the U.S. leading up to WW II regarding the anti-semitic movement. They also talked about what's happening in the country now.

My understanding is her book is an expansion of her stellar podcast, "Ultra." I received the book at the event I attended when I saw her in California.

I prefer listening to books these days so I'll get the audio version shortly.

[bdamomma]

34. Yes, I saw

on MSNBC the other night with Rachel and Chris Hayes talking about her new book. It was held in NY on 12th November. She was very informative, and she said we are in for some troubling times. (I'm hoping we rise up over this). I need to get her book or audible one.

She was talking about Huey Long he was assassinated. He was viewed as a populist, and demagogue.

I will paste his bio here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long

[JustAnotherGen]

31. I just finished Friday

Excellent history of the side of America few of us learned in high school.

[Jim__]

33. I finished it a while ago, it does not disappoint.

Rachel is a good story teller.

[Behind the Aegis]

36. Finished it last week. Then read a book about the characters from the "Canterbury Tales".

Now reading a book about Jewish space lasers and the Rothchilds.

I hope people reading this realize just how baked into the system and the US anti-Semitism is. How, even after the Holocaust, it was still quite popular, on BOTH sides. Lots of NIMBY. It also shows how history rhymes throughout time, though some don't understand the melody.

As a side note, I also find it "funny" how she said "and so and so said 'the N-word'", but she constantly used the word "kike".