The Public in Peril

Trump and the Menace of American Authoritarianism, by Henry A. Giroux

This is one of the first books to thoroughly critique the rise of Trumpism and its potential impact, nationally, and globally.

One of the world’s leading social critics, Giroux offers new critiques of Trump and his early Cabinet choices in the context of longer term trends, including the rise of right-wing populism, the threat of planetary peril, anti-intellectual fervor, the war on youth, a narrowing political discourse, deepening inequality and disposability, authoritarianism, the crisis of civic culture, the rise of the mass incarceration state, and more.

Giroux dissects the diverse forces that led to Trump’s rise and points to pathways for resisting his authoritarian instincts. Offering a new language of hope and possibility, Giroux’s optimism is rooted especially in the resurgence of progressive politics among youth. Giroux reclaims the centrality of education to politics and boldly articulates a vision in which the radical imagination merges with civic courage as part of a broad-based struggle for a radical democracy. Deep inquiries into fast-changing and pressing issues of our time makes this book ’the essential Giroux’ that citizens and students must read, debate, and act upon.

“This courageous and timely book is the first and best book on Trump’s neo-fascism in the making. Henry Giroux is a towering public intellectual unafraid to tell unpopular truths and unintimidated in the commitment to justice for poor and working people here and abroad. His work and witness are signs of hope in our bleak time!” ~ Cornel West

“In this book, Henry Giroux shows once again why he is among the world’s most outstanding social scientists. No one better explicates the multiple pathologies that now characterize the United States and most other advanced capitalist societies. Yet, he maintains a deep and abiding optimism, and bravely tells us of the pressing need for radically critical education in every element of every movement, combined with a politics of disobedience, and the creation of alternative public spaces, from which a new, radically democratic and egalitarian society can be built, from the ground up.” ~ Michael D. Yates, Editorial Director of Monthly Review Press and author of The Great Inequality