annieb123's Review of It Can Happen Here

by Alexander Laban Hinton

A renowned expert on genocide argues that there is a real risk of violent atrocities happening in the United States
If many people were shocked by Donald Trump's 2016 election, many more were stunned when, months later, white supremacists took to the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, chanting "Blood and Soil" and "Jews will not replace us!" Like Trump, the Charlottesville marchers were dismissed as aberrations-crazed extremists who did not represent the real US. It Can Happen Here demonstrates that, rather than being exceptional, such white power extremism and the violent atrocities linked to it are a part of American history. And, alarmingly, they remain a very real threat to the US today.
Alexander Hinton explains how murky politics, structural racism, the promotion of American exceptionalism, and a belief that the US has have achieved a color-blind society have diverted attention from the deep roots of white supremacist violence in the US's brutal past. Drawing on his years of research and teaching on mass violence, Hinton details the warning signs of impending genocide and atrocity crimes, the tools used by ideologues to fan the flames of hate, the origins of the far-right extremist ideas of white genocide and replacement, and the shocking ways in which "us" versus "them" violence is supported by racist institutions and policies.
It Can Happen Here is an essential new assessment of the dangers of contemporary white power extremism in the United States. While revealing the threat of genocide and atrocity crimes that loom over the country, Hinton offers actions we can take to prevent it from happening, illuminating a hopeful path forward for a nation in crisis.

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

It Can Happen Here is an academic examination of extremist ideology and the increasing possibility of genocide in the USA by Dr. Alexander Laban Hinton. Released 8th June 2021 by NYU Press, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is an erudite and well written monograph on the open rise of white extremism in the USA and a reasoned, logical examination of the ways in which it could give rise to genocide and, most importantly, concrete methods to avoid this outcome. The author is an academic and internationally recognized expert in this field and this is what I would call a layman accessible academic treatise of the ideas in all their incarnations as they intersect culture and history. As an academic work, it is *full* of annotations, notes, and minutiae (in a good way). I stopped often to read the background of some of his points in context (many of them link to online resources which are accessible by anyone).

The author knows what he's talking about. He writes perceptively and quite chillingly of what's happened, what's currently happening, and what the possible outcomes are. In short, it *can* happen in the USA and pretending that it's completely impossible and unthinkable is a desperately dangerous ignorance which we can't afford.

Five stars. I learned quite a lot from this book. Much of it made me sad and angry. It was in no way an "easy" read. I would recommend it for library acquisition and also for readers of history and culture.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

It Can Happen Here

by Alexander Laban Hinton

Reviewed by annieb123 on Jul 4, 2021

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