“Every age has its own Fascism”  Primo Levi   (the epigraph.)

I read this again for the All-nonfiction group discussion  It’s basically a little examination of some of the many faces “Fascism,”  which Albright deliberately never quite defines,  has worn from when  Mussolini used he term to today with the emphasis on the evaluation of Donald Trump.  She never labels him a fascist and I don’t believe she thinks he is – quite.  But this book is a look at some of today’s nationalist and repressive leaders as well as a bit of Albright’s own story.   A review of my first reading is at Fascism by Madeleine Albright: –

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Fascism:  A Warning
by Madeleine Albright
2018 / 289 pages (Kindle) 
read by Madeleine Albright 
rating  9 / history/politics – 
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In my first reading I was most interested in Mussolini,  Hitler, Kim Jong-un, Putin and, of course, Trump as well as Albright’s general thoughts on it all.   In that first reading I didn’t quite understand the central chapters regarding several of today’s leaders,  so that’s what I was focused on in this reading.   The leaders I had to read more carefully about are Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Erdogan of Turkey,  and Orban of Hungary – not truly “fascist,”  but the ones who use more fascist tactics than most.

These are not all the nasty, nationalist and oppressive dictators of the world of course,  but along with a few other briefer examples plus Putin and Kim Jong-un,  Albright has included a fair sampling.

So reading about all these leaders one has to ask,  what are the common denominators,  how did they come to power (most were elected but on what issues)?    She gives several generalized statements,  but nothing which could be construed as a “definition of a fascist.”   This is not disappointing but rather, as I suppose she intended,  thought provoking.