GRS Reads: Prequel, by Rachel Maddow

Join us at Greenwich Reform Synagogue on Thursday, December 19 at 12 noon for a lively discussion of Rachel Maddow’s best-selling Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism.  

Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century.

Before U.S. troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the U.S. with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it. This sophisticated and shockingly well-funded campaign was intended to undermine democratic institutions, promote antisemitism, and destroy citizens’, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the U.S. government and installing authoritarian rule. That effort worked alongside an ultra-right paramilitary movement that stockpiled weapons and trained for mass murder and violent insurrection.

At the same time, a handful of extraordinary activists and journalists were tracking the scheme, exposing it even as it was unfolding. In 1941 the U.S. Department of Justice finally made a frontal attack, identifying the key plotters, finding their backers, and prosecuting dozens in federal court. This little-known scheme involved the country’s most influential elected officials. Their interference in law enforcement efforts against the plot is a dark story of the rule of law breaking under the weight of political intimidation. On the other hand, the heroic efforts of the activists, journalists, prosecutors, and regular citizens who sought to expose the insurrectionists also make for a deeply resonant, deeply relevant tale in our own disquieting times.

The book is available from Greenwich Library both e-book and audio formats.  All are welcome to attend this free event, but please RSVP to Admin@GRS.org.