Alexander Laban Hinton, "It Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US" (NYU Press, 2021)
If many people were shocked by Donald Trump\u2019s 2016 election, many more were stunned when, months later, white supremacists took to the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, chanting \u201cBlood and Soil\u201d and \u201cJews will not replace us!\u201d Like Trump, the Charlottesville marchers were dismissed as aberrations\u2014crazed extremists who did not represent the real US.\xa0\nIt Can Happen Here: White Power and the Rising Threat of Genocide in the US\xa0(NYU Press, 2021) 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. 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\u2019s 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, and the shocking ways in which \u201cus\u201d versus \u201cthem\u201d violence is supported by inherently racist institutions and policies.\xa0It Can Happen Here\xa0is 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.\nJeff Bachman\xa0is Senior Lecturer in Human Rights at American University\u2019s School of International Service in Washington, DC.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/genocide-studies