Weimar America

A prophetic and bestselling conservative writer warns of the looming totalitarian threat from the radical right as well as the woke left.

Antisemitism, which today pervades the woke left and has spread to the radicalized right, is one historical symptom of a society at risk of falling under totalitarianism. In this prophetic cri de coeur, Rod Dreher warns complacent Americans that we have entered a “Weimar moment” in which freedom is just one crisis away from destruction.

Comparing the social conditions that gave rise to the Nazi regime in Germany with those of America today, the author of the bestselling Live Not by Lies finds the same psychological profile, despite the very different circumstances. And the threats to American democracy are no longer limited to the far left. The far right now draws its share of a lonely, anxious, and desperate populace.

No society can live like this forever. People eventually crave deliverance, whatever the cost. Weimar America warns that a new generation is playing with fire while an older generation slumbers. A century ago, the Germans didn’t know what horrors were possible. We don’t have that excuse.