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Bertram Gross

Bertram Myron Gross

Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America Paperback – July 1, 1999

by Bertram Gross (Author)

82 ratings

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Print length

410 pages
Language

English
Publisher

South End Press
Publication date

July 1, 1999
Dimensions

5.9 x 1.1 x 8.9 inches
ISBN-10

0896081494
ISBN-13

978-0896081499
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ South End Press; First Printing edition (July 1, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 410 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0896081494
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0896081499
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.9 x 1.1 x 8.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,196,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,393 in Radical Political Thought
- #2,745 in Human Rights Law (Books)
- #3,396 in General Elections & Political Process

Customer Reviews:
82 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		69%
4 star		13%
3 star		12%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

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CLB in Syracuse

Especially Relevant in Today's Political Climate

Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2018

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Not the best writing style. First 1/3rd of book is difficult to read but the other 2/3rd's is fascinating and I find myself nodding my head in in agreement. Is easier than you think to lose what freedoms you have!!

6 people found this helpful

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Vincent M. Maysee

excellent and eye opening

Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2019

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Mr. Gross has illuminated my suspicions regarding the current political climate in America today. We, as a nation, are headed toward irrevocable disaster and the only hope is the dissenters who say enough is enough!

3 people found this helpful

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Laurie G

Very good

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2019

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I have been searching for this book for a few years now. This book was in very good condition, marked as good.So I am very happy! Very timely read also!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Packaged well and arrived safely!

2 people found this helpful

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Prophetic Book Considers Effects Of Rise Of The Power Elite!

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2003

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I lost my trusty old `dogged-eared' copy of this wonderful classic in a house fire a couple of years ago, and only recently found a used hardcover copy at the wonderful independent bookstore in Peterborough; The Toadstool Bookstore. Considering how relevant the book is to events transpiring in this country now, it was a fortuitous discovery. This is a relatively short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward; the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of `friendly persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans through what Gross refers to as "friendly fascism".

For anyone familiar with modern social theory, it is apparent that the author's thesis is a quite clever and accurate extension of sociologist C. Wright Mills' well known notions of what came to be known as the `mass society' theory. This was an essential aspect of Mills' famous theory of the power elite as forwarded in a book with the same title. Like social theorist G. William Domhoff ("The Higher Circles"), Professor Gross shows how the deceptively friendly and engaging style of the powers that be actually constitute an increasingly dangerous threat to the democratic process and to the long-term survival of our precious civil liberties. Of course, for Americans used to the association between the term `fascism' and the image of angry totalitarian states such as Nazi Germany and the Italy of the same period of time, it is perhaps difficult to associate with the notion that clever and systematic manipulation of the general population through use of the mass media is a form of fascistic influence. Yet, as Gross argues so persuasively, that is exactly what it is.

The term that pops to mind is that process that M.I.T. scholar Noam Chomsky would refer to as "manufacturing consent", a dangerous propensity which dangerously influences the perceptions of individual citizens by continually immersing the populace in an electronic stream of messages, both blatant and subliminal, that serves to condition them to a particular way of experiencing, participating, and perceiving the world around them. We find ourselves constantly bombarded by powerful and suggestive images, message-laden icons which deliver consistent themes regarding the nature of the environment we are living in, one we come to employ more and more exclusively as our preferred method of interacting in both the civil and legal aspects of contemporary society.

As Professor Gross so prophetically forecasted, the mergers of all commercial news sources, both electronic and other, have come under the ownership and control of corporate America, one of the leading edges of the power elite. Amazingly, all of this also rings a responsive chord with the single most prophetic work of fiction in the 20th century, Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". Lost in our petty diversions and self-absorbed in a pool of trivial pursuits, we become increasingly more vulnerable to the solid wall of subliminal and other messages all conveying a message regarding he nature of the world and our social, economic, and political place in it.

As our experience with the several successful Presidents ranging from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, the artful use of personal charisma to cover a mean-spirited political agenda has worked amazingly well. In the twenty years since the book was originally published, many aspects of our collective socioeconomic well-being have been profoundly changed, almost exclusively to the favor of the rich and well placed and to the increasing detriment of the average man and woman on the street. The statistics available are overwhelming in detailing the levels to which ordinary citizens have been stripped of most of the socioeconomic gains of the last century. In every area of contemporary life, from the cost and extent of health coverage to the responsibility for a variety of aspects such as providing for individual retirements, the vastly expanding future tax liability, and the use of the federal treasury to provide for subsidies to corporate America, the story is the same.

Increasingly we are being manipulated into surrendering our voice in the democratic process and to playing a more limited role as consumers, which the elite evidently sees as our only crucial civic responsibility. As George W. Bush said with a booming voice and a congenial charismatic smile, post 911 Americans just had to get out to do their patriotic duty by once again buying things, to get the economy going once more. Indeed, it is becoming a brave new world. This is a wonderful book, and one that is a great, thought-provoking read. Enjoy!

152 people found this helpful

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Richard R. Rye

We have learned NOTHING!

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2013

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Sad to say, Gross's predictions and warnings have joined those of the distopian novelists; they have been taken as a roadmap, not a warning. We are closer than ever to becoming the world's worst state.

26 people found this helpful

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Bryon B

Learn something

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2018

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Everyone should read this book

3 people found this helpful

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SLAJCHRT ZBYNEK

An extraordinarily farsighted book about a fascism that the majority will love

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2017

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It is almost unbelievable how prescient the author was in this book, which was published 37 years ago. The author analyses the roots of the upcoming new era as foreseen in the late '70s. The main characteristic of this era is a conjunction of what is called BigBusiness and BigGovernment backed by powerful media held in the hands of the few. This novel form of power structure resembles in many points traditional fascism, although the means of manipulation of society are, in general, less violent and use more sophisticated techniques. The book's 30-year-old predictions combined with the current developments, such as the rapid rise of inequality, media and social networks manipulating on-demand people's emotions and, above all, the decline of rationality, give a very plausible picture of what we are going to experience in the near future.

12 people found this helpful

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Alan K. McCall

and slowly erodes democratic institutions that are easily overcome. The author is a former Truman administration ...

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2016

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Fascism never comes from outside. There is no invasion. There is no strongman who imports it. Rather, fascism always comes from within, based on emotional appeals to the common man, and slowly erodes democratic institutions that are easily overcome.

The author is a former Truman administration official writing in the early 1980's. If you do not see the foreshadowing of Donald Trump on every page, then you aren't paying attention.

23 people found this helpful

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