How Fascism Works was a...wonderful book to read right after the 2025 inauguration.

As far as summaries of fascist politics go, I can understand why some people were disappointed by the scope of the book. Each chapter focuses on a specific strategy/rhetoric employed in fascist politics, which I found helpful. The progression of points makes logical sense, and the author uses previous fascist regimes as a backdrop to provide examples for these strategies. Stanley also highlights the fascist tendencies of far-right politicians in America at the moment, which is probably why some people strongly disliked this book. And for anyone who hates Trump and the trajectory of America as much as I do, this reads as a super depressing projection of the future.

The issue I had with this book is the scope. It offers these fascist points but is often vague when explaining why people fall for them, and it also never proposes any way to counteract these tactics. Also, as someone not entirely familiar with the complete history of fascism, there are times when the book assumes you know about something and doesn't explain it as in-depth or with enough context as it could.

So while I like the fascist strategies suggested by Stanley, I think there is space to build your own arguments using these points. I wrote a paper on this book that focused on the manipulation of language in fascist politics to establish an "us" vs "them" dynamic, so I think it's possible to take the framework of Stanley's argument and build it up in a way that makes sense to you.

If you're looking for signs to diagnose a fascist regimes, this book is for you. If you want a solution, you'll need to look elsewhere.