An easily-read primer (see others' notes of errors/omissions) of the responsibility of all citizens to police their government. Immediate past examples may put most of the text into old news, but reminders to the American public with its notoriously short memory, are well advised. ( )

Having just seen the documentary based on this book, I wanted to read her short original text too. While her intention is admirable, the effort often reads like the one-eyed leading the blind.

Unfortunately, she is often wrong in the details due to her superficial knowledge. When she writes "By 1930 Nazi propagandists referred to Germany not as "the nation", this is simply wrong, as any glance at the National Socialist party name shows. When she quotes Emerson "We began well. No inquisitions, here", she ignores the Massachusetts witch trials. For a work claiming to educate the public, this is a fairly error-laden pamphlet. But then again, her audience in the United States of Amnesia knows even less.

Her basic diagnosis of a creeping totalitarianism in the United States of America is correct. It is wrong to attribute this solely to the Bush administration, though, even if they were especially brazen. The "inalienable rights" were and are often denied from the slaveholder Thomas Jefferson to Proposition 8 bigots. The totalitarian Pledge of Allegiance, the House Committee of Un-American Activities (HUAC), vote suppression and press manipulations are part of America, even American inventions such as gerrymandering or lynching.

Removing the Republicans from office only partially heals this. US totalitarianism is mostly not based on hard action (torture, detainment, military forces) but on the more pernicious soft power. The Obama administration will abolish the most heinous acts of its predecessors but not dismantle the soft measures. The problem of US journalism is not the threat of prison time but the self-censorship of editors and journalists seeking "access". Audiatur et altera pars in US practice means an authoritarian Republican discussing with a center-right Democrat. Her plea for Americans "to publish online, research aggressively, check facts assiduously, expose abuses, file Freedom of Information Act requests, publish 'zines, write op-eds" seriously overestimates and overcharges the nation of couch potatoes. The problem lies in the media-entertainment complex and the dismal state of public education. The second problem is not touched by her at all, the failure of American democracy: Most US elections are not competitive. Incumbents are nearly impossible to unseat due to gerrymandering and the influence of money.

Overall, a worthy effort, mostly for the gallery. After all, Noam Chomsky has been preaching the same message better researched and better written for decades. ( )

Naomi Wolf's book 'The End of America' is a well written book. There are plentiful footnotes to back up her examples. There is a large useful bibliography to guide the reader in further reading on the subject. The style she took of a letter to a young patriot makes the book very readable. It is almost conversational. The young patriot is given a history and civics lesson.
Her basic premise is given by an allegory of a swinging pendulum. The swinging back and forth of the pendulum represents the back and forth of the left and the right political philosophies. The amplitude of the swing represents the amount of liberty we have. When we have no liberties, the pendulum is stationary. She proposes that the job of the patriot is to prevent the pendulum from stopping. I personal find this allegory less than effective. Don’t we want to reach a stable point where neither the left nor the right enforces their will on us? What motion of the pendulum describes that state? Despite the effectiveness of her allegory, not one she invented mind you, her discussion about the struggle between left and right is accurate.
She illustrates ten items or actions that take a Democracy to a Fascist state. For the most part, each of these step are demonstrated in historical context. Where and how the steps were used by Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy and others are explained. She includes statements of how the framer of the constitution sought to project us against these steps.
The one failing of the book is it near constant use of the Bush administrations policies as examples of the actions leading to a fascist state. It isn't until very late in the book that she points that the small steps that eroding our liberties can be used by either a republican or democrat president to lead us to fascist state. To me it seems unlikely that the Bush administration wished to bring down the democracy and install themselves as leaders of a fascist state. I think it is more a likely in human nature to turn away from liberty to protect our safety. That idea being much more frightening. I felt she should have at least spent some time examining this aspect of human nature. Sadly, I think the use of the Bush administration actions as the corner stone of most of the book, will out of date the book as of January 20th 2009. This is a pity, since the main message of the book, the call to fight the powers of repression by becoming an active participant in the cause of liberty, is a good message. ( )

This volume is a bit alarmist but it bears further investigation as to its central tenets. I would be interested to know if Wolf considers the Obama administration a threat as well or if she only viewed Bush as the problem.

Wolf's thesis is simple: "There are ten steps that are taken in order to close down a democracy or crush a prodemocratic movement, whether by capitalists, communists, or right-wing fascists. These ten steps, taken together, are more than the sum of their parts. Once all ten have been put in place, each magnifies the power of the others and of the whole. Impossible as it may seem, we are seeing each of these ten steps taking hold in the United States today" (p. 11).

She states that ten steps are necessary to the end of liberty; the ten steps are: 1. Invoke a constant internal and external threat; 2. Establish secret prisons; 3. Develop a paramilitary force; 4. Surveil ordinary citizens; 5. Infiltrate citizens' groups; 6. Arbitrarily detain and release citizens; 7. Target key individuals; 8. Restrict the press; 9. Cast criticism as "espionage" and dissent as "treason;" and, 10. Subvert the rule of law. All ten steps are already in place.

As a reference to an historical example, it was not necessary for Hitler to repeal the Weimar Constitution, in fact, the overt overthrow of a Constitution will unduly alarm people and arouse suspicion. Far better to do what Hitler did, he indefinitely suspended the Constitution.

And practically speaking, the most insidious aspect of Wolf is that dictators are not blatantly evil upon first glance, the road to hell is paved in gold. All that is necessary is a leader who arouses passion, and not reflection, you need to concentrate a political base to silence and/or subdue the malcontents.

The November 2008 American presidential election may have supplied that last component.

Wolf argues that the Bush Administration's policies have tilted us towards fascism. Alarmist, but illuminating. Chilling and persuasive, especially the part on Blackwater. Whether she's right or wrong, this book is going to be an interesting artifact of the Bush era, illustrating just how badly that administration fucked up and terrified us all.