If Books Could Kill just took a look at Liberal Fascism, which I happen to own because the title jumped out to me one day at The Bookman while I was browsing the shelves. But after their discussion debunking most of the claims in the book, I wonder if it's even worth my time.
Ultimately, Liberal Fascism is about how it's not Conservatives that are holding fascist views, and pushing them on others. It's really Liberals who are "fascist". According to the podcast, it's a thinly veiled, poorly researched attempt to own the Libs. The author of the book makes up their own definition of fascism that he can use to match up with Liberal ideals while ignoring whole sections of his source materials that would reference current Conservative political actions as fascist in nature.
I did find one book and one paper that I want to read that were mentioned in the podcast though.
First, How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley is a look at how to recognize fascism in politics and life around us.
Second, The Return of Old-Fashioned Racism to White American's Partisan Preferences in the Early Obama Era. Yes, I'm in Canada, but the US is a political and cultural powerhouse1 which Canada follows in many ways. Understanding how racism is coming back into acceptable mainstream beliefs in the US is a great way to watch for the same factors influencing Canadian beliefs.
So, do I bother reading Liberal Fascism to see what rhetoric Conservatives are pushing? Or is reading this a waste of my time and I should just pull it of my shelf?
I'm leaning towards leaving it there for a future read so I have an example of Conservative political rhetoric, but I'll likely spend my reading time elsewhere until Liberal Facism becomes a needed read in a question I'm trying to answer.