The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left

This was such a good read, I think I'll have to read it 1 or 2 more times! I put a plastic sticky tab over any interesting fact or idea. I'm well-read in this area, I hold a master's degree, and I've read over a thousand books in general. I read a lot and I love history. However, by the end of this book, I had dozens of tabs poking out of my book. While I'm not a conservative, I found this very interesting and well-written. Great facts to follow up on and the author convinced me of what I thought was a ridiculous but curious premise: that dems and nazi's actually had anything in common. Turns out, they have a lot! Most parallels were not far reaching: they were surprisingly spot-on and conceivable. Because of this, I bought the author's other books and watched two of his documentaries. Honestly, I would have liked it if the chapter American Fuhrers was more organized or added a few more significant leaders. Really, there are only a few and they are a bit out of order, but the prior chapter just expanded on one so the order sorta makes sense but not chronologically. [Image Note: This did not come with a book sleeve because I did not read the fine print when ordering, so I printed the book cover and pasted it on. Ghetto, but also fabulous.]

I confess I almost didn't buy this book because of the title - it sounded too extreme and sensationalist to be credible. But I'm glad I bought it and read it. History has clearly been rewritten by the American Left and it's time to set the record straight. I'm glad Dinesh D'Souza has taken the effort to, as he says, "pin the Nazi tail precisely where it belongs - on the Democratic donkey." I'll get my negative quibble out of the way first - or maybe it's more than a quibble. I found the weakest parts of the book to be the chapters comparing the Southern slave plantations with the Nazi concentration camps. Not that the similarities aren't present, of course, but in and of themselves I'm not sure those similarities prove either a historical or philosophical connection between the American LEFT and Nazism. Similarly for the connection between the Nazi Lebensraum and the treatment of the American Indians. I've understood that there was a "conservative/right-wing" branch of the Democratic party that was responsible for slavery, and while the author is obviously arguing against that idea, making the case that those practices were supported by the Democratic Party rather than the American people as a whole - he doesn't quite close the loop. It's not clear in what sense they are particularly LEFT-wing. More core to D'Souza's argument, though, and more effective, were the chapters on the history of fascism. He made a compelling case that Nazism, fascism, Bolshevism and Leninism are all political cousins descending from their common left-wing grandfather, Marxism. The similarities - and mutual admiration - between Mussolini and FDR were startling and revealing - as well as the more recent efforts that have been made to conceal that affinity. Another significant parallel is one between Hitler's anti-Semitism and current left-wing anti-capitalism - both rooted in a mindset of resentment against those with financial power. The explanation of "Gleichschaltung" - the Nazi form of political correctness - was important in light of the way Lefists today want to control and coerce speech. A particularly helpful nugget was an explanation of the historical development of the terms "left" and "right" and how the original meanings translate to the American context. Once the left-wing nature of fascism is established, it is necessary to explain how it has been not just hidden from the American consciousness, but actually inverted in its understanding. The author thoroughly examines the process of redefining "fascism" and the key players - such as Heidegger, Marcuse, and Soros. D'Souza ends with a challenge to the conservative movement: if we believe the message of the book, then "normal, lackadaisical politics is largely obsolete." He outlines steps that the conservative movement needs to take to expose and undermine American-style fascism. I confess I got a little nervous when he seemed to be advocating the use of government power to intimidate left-wing advocates in the same way that, for instance, the Obama administration has used it against the Tea Party. Unlike Hillary and friends, I am not willing to agree with Saul Alinsky that ends are the only thing to justify the means! But then D'Souza backs away from the position, saying that "we don't want ourselves to become instruments of lawlessness." We do however need to realize that if the Left is going to fight hard and dirty - and they do - we at least need to fight hard. In spite of my criticisms above, I gave this book five stars, simply because of the importance of the message. Every American conservative should read this book - as well as every progressive and centrist. The future of the American Experiment requires it.

Nazism and fascism are “right wing” movements -- the polar political opposites of socialism. Fascists and Nazis employ appeals to traditional morality to gain support. Progressives deplore fascism and always have. Fascists support capitalism. Trump is a fascist. These are aspects of "The Big Lie" that Dinesh D’Souza exposes in his recently released book. The absurd claim that fascism and Nazism are not socialist movements owes it origin to the hideous reputations those leftist regimes earned after World War II. How could progressives expect to thrive in America if the Holocaust and other atrocities were linked to its political relatives? Consequently, a gigantic lie was perpetrated by leftist intellectuals and slavishly spread by a sympathetic media -- namely, that fascism was a movement of the “far right” and that conservatives were also on “the right.” This “big lie” has long been a staple of Democrat propaganda and the basis for the absurd notion that President Trump is a fascist -- not his violent, GOP-assassinating, speech-suppressing, “Antifa” opponents Most conservatives are aware of links between fascism and socialism. After all, the term “Nazi” refers to a “National Socialist” party. What many of them, and certainly most Americans, don’t know, thanks to a mendacious media and institutions of advanced deception, are the countless ties (centralized government, racism, eugenics, state-sanctioned violence, and enforced cultural uniformity) that link fascists and even Nazis to the progressive movement. Indeed, a mutual admiration relationship existed between Mussolini and FDR -- a romance evidenced not only by a White House-organized ticker-tape parade for Mussolini’s aviation minister, but also by New Deal policies like the National Recovery Administration that effectively put the American economy under Roosevelt’s dictatorial control. Not surprisingly, a New York Times journalist praised FDR for following Mussolini’s example -- though the Supreme Court, not yet cowed by FDR’s later fascistic court-packing threat, did not cheer this unconstitutional power grab. In 1933, FDR himself said of Mussolini, “There seems no question he is really interested in what we are doing and I am much interested and deeply impressed by what he has accomplished…” Mussolini, for his part, was thrilled to be called “the Italian Roosevelt.” Even more surprising to Americans weaned on “the big lie” is the fact that Germany’s Nazi press frequently praised FDR in the early 30s. One magazine lauded “the fascist New Deal” in which the central government (as in fascism) exercised substantial control over “private” industry and finance. Fascism itself, as D’Souza explains, arose due to the spectacular failure of Marx’s predictions about proletarian revolutions. Mussolini and Lenin, both Marxists, proposed different reasons for this failure, but both remained socialists dedicated to centralized government and totalitarian societies. Thus, the bloody feud between fascism and communism was an internecine war akin to the ongoing hostilities between Sunni and Shiite sects within Islam. D’Souza’s work contains a fair amount of material also found in Jonah Goldberg’s less strident book, "Liberal Fascism" -- especially information about the “proto-fascist” proclivities of the Constitution-despising Woodrow Wilson under whose resegregated regime the “domestic terrorist arm of the Democratic Party,” the KKK, reemerged in spectacular fashion. "The Big Lie," however, goes beyond Goldberg by linking Progressivism to Nazism via their kindred eugenics-based racist beliefs. D’Souza notes, for example, that Hitler’s anti-Jewish Nuremberg laws were explicitly patterned after Democrat-instituted segregation and anti-miscegenation laws in the South and that progressives in America “outpaced the Nazis in initiating mass programs of forced incarceration and forced sterilization…” D’Souza also fully addresses a question I posed to Mr. Goldberg after a book lecture in San Diego -- to which question I received an unsatisfactory answer: “How did it come to pass that fascism is commonly called ‘right-wing’?” To this query "The Big Lie" provides a detailed response. The leftist historian Richard Hofstadter began this project by linking Social Darwinism in America to capitalism -- thus transferring racist eugenics from its progressive spawning ground to the conservative “right.” Two Germans émigrés from the Marxist Frankfort School, Herbert Marcuse and Theodor Adorno, subsequently developed the big lie that fascism wasn’t so much a political philosophy as a personality disorder associated with morally repressed conformists and traditional religious folk. In short, fascism became an “authoritarian” neurosis rooted in conservative sentiments. Never mind that Hitler was a bohemian who despised Christianity, that Mussolini was an atheist, or that fascists hoped to create a new society filled with “supermen” and not suburbanites lounging in hot tubs. Ignore also the fact that fascism is a political philosophy with a background that’s been erased by the primary practitioners of the big lie -- academia, the media, and Hollywood. According to D’Souza, fascism’s philosophical founder was Giovanni Gentile, an Italian who, like Mussolini after him, moved from Marxism to fascism. Most of Gentile’s program could easily be mistaken for any recent Democrat platform. D’Souza correctly, in my view, sees the “resistance” to Trump as a grave threat designed to undo America’s constitutional system and to institute a progressive conformity of thought and action throughout the country -- a uniformity that is already being enforced by fascistic thuggery and intimidation at Berkeley, Middlebury College, and elsewhere. Unfortunately, talking conservative heads seem largely oblivious to this clear and present danger. D’Souza’s concluding “Denazification” suggestions, however, don’t inspire confidence. How does one pass Trump’s economic agenda, reach out to minorities, prosecute Obama-era abuses of power, or develop alternative media and entertainment resources in today’s social and political environment? While D’Souza has been successful with his documentaries, one would think it will take decades to make serious inroads into the left’s academic and media dominance. We might not have that much time. Nevertheless, D’Souza has provided conservatives with substantial ammunition. They need not simply scream out the window, “I’m as mad as hell…” They can also tweet, message associates, and vigorously assert to whoever will listen, “Fascism and progressivism are both leftist, socialist disasters! Read this book!”

Dinesh D’Souza’s latest book ‘The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi roots of the American Left’ is a masterpiece and an absolute must read for anyone having an interest in American politics, especially in the age of Trump, and thoroughly captivated me. I learned an enormous amount about America. For those of you who don’t know him, Dinesh D’Souza is an Indian/American political commentator and filmmaker, a staunch conservative to be sure, who attracted the wrath of the Obama DOJ when he was unfairly targeted as he was making revealing documentaries about Barack Obama. If you follow D’Souza’s work, you’d easily understand why Obama, the worst president in American history, was upset. In 2010, D’Souza wrote a book titled ‘The roots of Obama’s rage’, followed it up by a terrific article published in Forbes called ‘How Obama thinks’ and topped it all off by one the most precisely researched political documentaries I have ever watched called ‘2016: Obama’s America’ where he retraces Obama’s youth and even interviews Obama’s brother in Kenya. The picture of an Obama cleary obsessed by colonialism and anti-Americanism was drawn revealing most of Obama’s cards, cards that he would keep very close to his chest. If you haven’t watched ‘2016: Obama’s America’ and if you want to understand how we got to Trump, you must look it up, it’s available for rental on iTunes for just a few dollars. It remains to this day the second highest grossing political documentary ever made. The term big lie is taken straight out of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf of course and was applied so effectively by Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Propaganda Minister. What D’Souza develops quite deeply in his book is the fact that when Naziism was looking for legal foundations to justify its existence in the eyes of German jurisprudence, it actually turned to the history of the Democratic Party in America and how racial segregation laws where implemented there. An entire exposé follows on the roots of the Democratic Party (KKK, etc.). The roots of Italian Fascism and the writings of Giovanni Gentille are looked at and in nine powerful and properly sequenced chapters, D’Souza tackles the three pillars of American groupthink today, namely: Academia, the Mainstream Media and Hollywood. The concept of “Fake News” is prominently addressed. It has been, and still is, my opinion that Donald Trump’s greatest achievements to date has been the label he’s put on the media in America. Mark Levin, one of my favorite conservative talk show host, coined the term “Praetorian Guard” media and he’s correct of course. Trump has lifted the veil off the mainstream media and has called their bluff. One might not like Trump but his achievement on this topic alone is unprecedented in American history. What Dinesh D’Souza manages to demonstrate in this hugely important work is that the big lie is alive and well in America today, kept healthy and functional by the trio mentioned above. There are some out there that will say that Dinesh D’Souza is simply the Michael Moore of the conservative movement, that his documentaires are not documentaries, rather that they are manifestos. I don’t buy the parallel at all in the sense that Michael Moore’s filmography is indeed a succession of high impact manifestos whereas D’Souza’s work is a lot better researched and factual. But I suppose it all comes down to political allegiance and leaning, a camp I have most decidedly chosen. Anyone in this camp would enormously benefit from reading ‘The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi roots of the American Left’ and I highly recommend it. Yan😎

Let me say first off, I am not a professional book reviewer; I’m just a Christian, right leaning Independent who really enjoyed reading this book. This book is outstanding history lesson; the facts pointed out by Dinesh are spot on. The tactics and policies of the progressive left do in-fact mirror Hitler’s brown shirts and Mussolini’s black shirts, e.g., Black Lives Matter, Antifa. This is a very telling exposé on what the progressive left is trying to do to this country. I fully expect negative, angry left wing comments on my post, but so be it, I feel strongly that people need to read about what’s happening to our county and be fully informed on how it’s being done so that we can combat this democrat progressive evil before it consumes the entire country. Also, I want Dinesh D’Souza to know that I think he did an incredibly amazing job, as he always does, pulling the facts out of history for us all to see. The lies that the democrats /progressives are trying to pull over on the country are shameful and ultimately destructive to our very future. You will read reviews in Amazon on this book that are very negative; these are obviously written by left wing dingbats that don’t want you to read this book, they don’t want you to be able to think for yourselves. They are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts. Just like the democrat/progressives tried to blame slavery on the conservatives and saying they are the racists and are now trying to say that conservatives are the fascists. Don’t be duped by the left wing media machine; the anti-fascists are the true fascists and more people across the country are starting to see that play out right in front of them. Don’t let your kids go through school believing everything their “teachers” try to teach them. Dinesh does an excellent job of describing the triad, (Media, Academia and Hollywood) that are against the GOP, the constitution, freedom of religion and freedom from government takeover. Dinesh concludes the book with what concrete actions conservatives need to consider to stop the progressive takeover and how the GOP needs to work “TOGETHER” to expose the Big Lie and stop the progressive democrat agenda. I’ll say it again,,,, Outstanding book, should be required reading for every high school and college student in America, however, the history of evil pointed out in this book and how it slowly acquired power by complacent government leadership certainly applies to the whole world.

Bravo, Dinesh. This is a serious and timely wake up call for all of us Conservatives who love the America of our youth. It is exhaustively researched and thoroughly well argued. It seems like I knew this stuff all along but had no awareness - or had it backwards. I believed the Big Lie. No more. The book speaks to me on several levels not the least of which is deeply personal and emotional. It explains my intuitive angst with the assault on our culture by the progressives. It is a relief, actually, that I am not the deplorable that I am made out to be. I only wish I could get my spouse to read it and to have a meaningful discussion of its. Even if the former happened, there is no way the latter would... unless The Big Lie can penetrate a well defended progressive bulwark. So, again, bravo.

“The Big Lie” keeps the reader focused with repeated OMG bewilderments from start to finish. At the end, an objective reader will be terrified, because if D’Souza’s evidence and conclusions are correct, and if his recommendations are ignored, the consequences for the USA are dismal. The book is an exposé of American 19th and 20th Century histories unique in its telling. People, events and institutions are revealed in new ways and with disturbingly new facts and insights. Extensive, detailed footnotes give the reader back-up and further research leads to pursue as desired. “Fascinating” is hugely inadequate, as the book reveals politicians, artists, academics and other scoundrels whose interrelationships and dependencies may not have been acknowledged adequately or accurately in the past. Other readers may find additional, but I read only three bits of error. I list them to show their insignificance relative the huge volume of information D’Souza exposes. One is a line of lyrics in Cole Porter’s “You’re the Top” incorrectly attributed to Porter instead of an edit addition by P.G. Wodehouse. Two is a lack of clarity about the Nazi party being “primarily financed by its own members” and not significantly by “big business.” This ignores the support (some of it earlier than later) by the Krupp, Thyssen, Siemens, Mercedes, Farben and other industrialist families, most of whose industrial empires continue today as multinational megaliths (one of them split-up into several other than its single unacceptably hideous nameplate). A tour of the museum at Dachau shows a photo of Hitler with some of his big business finance colleagues in the Nazi party’s early days, along with a caption description of the early importance of that early financial industrial support. Three is the acceptance of the supposed “suicide” story of Hitler without even a slight reference to Hitler’s escape to South America, which a finally released extensive hoard of FBI evidence and testimony, sequestered for 50-years, strongly compels as the real story of Hitler’s end in Germany. Those three minor issues aside, the rest of the book provides a major awakening to previously untold American history… and, perhaps, to its future. My “criticism” of the book is NOT with D’Souza… it’s with the publisher’s title-page editor who created (to sensationalize the book, as almost “anything-Nazi” does) the sub-title, “Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left.” That sub-title will dissuade the millions of people who OUGHT to read the book from doing so. A more accurate, dispassionate sub-title is, “Exposing the incredible and incredibly complex roots of the American Left.” A corollary sub-sub-title would be, “And revealing the shamefully inept roots of the Right.” “The Big Lie” a great read… especially if you are into sleepless nights while reading and afterwards.

Dinesh D’Souza’s Big Lie is an excellent book. It is well written and loaded with factual evidence. It is never boring nor repetitious. Is it biased? Of course and why not? Every book on political and social issues takes a biased position. That is the natural order of things. D’Souza actually exposes three “big lies,” all if them perpetrated by the Progressive Left. The first big lie is that Nazism, fascism, and Communism are ideologies of the Right, while in fact they are ideologies of the Left just like Progressivism itself. The second big lie is that racism in America is an intrinsic feature of America, while it is actually centered almost solely in the Democratic Party. The third big lie is that the Republicans, conservatives, and Donald Trump are fascists, while in truth Democrats and liberals are not only fascist but have employed fascist violence for decades. I note that most of the one star and two star reviews are not “verified purchases.” That suggests that these people have probably not even read the book. Out of 55 one-star reviews, only 8 are verified purchases. Out of 7 two-star reviews, only 1 is a verified purchase. Most of these negative reviews are loaded with hateful, foolish, vulgar, insulting, or irrelevant objections. One genius even self-righteously claims that D’Souza preaches hatred of fellow Americans and that such hatred is not patriotic, but then has the nerve to declare that he is patriotic in hating D’Souza. However, I see one weakness in the book. D'Souza does not seem to recognize that the Republican Party also has its willing fascist progressives. On page 234, he says that the national GOP does not understand and recognize the dangers of the fascist doctrines of the Left. He attributes that to them being clueless, looking the other way, or to their fear of becoming targets. I think that is wrong. Those establishment Republicans know full well what they are doing and they do it on purpose. They embrace Progressivism with open arms. These liberal Republicans, like the liberal Democrats, are central to America's problems. Proof of what I have just said is seen in the fact that no matter what party gets into power, be they Republicans or Democrats, nothing ever seems to get better, and the downward spiral continues.

I have long wondered how Fascism and Nazism could possibly be considered doctrines of the far right. This book proves, beyond any reasonable doubt, that they absolutely belong on the political left. Furthermore, it shows in detail the deep connections between Nazi/Fascist ideology and the left wing Progressive movement, past and present. Although this book is written very much from the American perspective, it is easy to see the parallels with leftist progressivism in the UK and Europe. This is essential reading for anyone on the political right. Trigger Warning for leftists! This will make your head explode. I challenge you to read this, and then produce a constructive counter argument that does not include accusing your opponents of stupidity or racism.

Para esclarecer a verdade por trás do partido americano Democratas. Esse partido é o nosso PT piorado. São mentirosos - e como! Acusam os outros do que fazem, igualzinho como os petistas fazem por aqui. Vale a pena cada página. Dinesh D' Souza fez uma vasta pesquisa e seu trabalho é fenomenal. Recomendadíssimo.

A very interesting read. Well researched and well written. Even if you don't agree with his politics, you'll learn quite a bit. (And he's not exaggerating information. Some parts I knew and wish he went into a bit more detail like Martin Heidegger being a nazi. Heidegger also took his philosophy from his Jewish professor Husserl. Husserl was a non-practicing Jew who was removed from his university job for having Jewish ancestors. These are facts D'Souza left out of his book which would've really driven home the issue with worshipping the teachings of Heidegger)

This is a fact filled, thoroughly enjoyable read, of a controversial topic which I’m sure many people share but few dare speak out precisely because of the reasons clearly explained in the book by the author. If you are one of those people that look at Antifa behaviour on the news, with their face covered violent and intolerant approach, and wonder “how do these guys call themselves anti-fascists?”, this book is for you. If you suspect there are ideological links between communism, nazism, fascism and modern progressive views, this book is for you. If you’re simply open to a different perspective on what mainstream media incessantly refers to as “fascists”, this book is for you. If you’re Antifa, or have a socialist view of the economy, society and life in general, this book might challenge your views, which is a healthy thing to do, even if you decide to stick to them.

Informative book detailing the history of both Fascism and National Socialism in context with the development of the "Progressive" movement in the United States. Before reading the book I was aware of the history of the Democrats with respect to slavery and racism but this book illustrated how the fascist movements in Europe fed off Democratic policies in the United States and used laws enacted in the United States as templates for their own fascist states.