Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 there have been numerous books that have tried to articulate not only the reasons for the attacks, but also what has changed in the US since. The End of America is one of the more recent books that seek to put America in context since those planes flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Naomi Wolf wrote this book, which is presented in short chapters; to a young man she knows who recently became married in the United States. Wolf had been thinking about the state of the country and says in the preface that she "could no longer ignore the echoes between events in the past and forces at work today." By echoes, the author means the current policies of the U.S. government "are mirrored in history." The author uses bits of information to make comparisons between the current U.S. administration and Nazi Germany, with an occasional comparison to Stalinist Russia. Wolf admits this is not an academic book; she is only trying to get people to see the urgency of what is happening in the U.S. and to stir people to action.
Making comparisons to any former government, but particularly to Nazi Germany is a difficult undertaking. I think that this is something that will cause some people to dismiss the book as trite and superficial. There indeed may be broad comparisons, but the public perception of what happened in Nazi Germany is so distorted that to make comparisons can create more misunderstanding than clarity. However, I could see what Wolf was attempting to do by looking at these historical echoes as a means to challenge readers to think about the seriousness of where the country is headed. The historical comparisons are not what are problematic about the book; rather it is this notion that these policy changes in the U.S. only began with 9/11 and under the Bush administration. Some sectors of dissidents have been spied on and targeted for the past century in the U.S., not only recently as the author suggests. The Clinton administration shifted policy in the 1990s to the degree that it paved the way for the Bush administration policies to become reality. Critics of the book my also dismiss it as just more partisan bashing, even though Wolf does not express any sympathy or allegiance to the Democrats.
Looking beyond any of these criticisms the book is well-written in that it is not attempting to provide tons of data to support the author's argument. Wolf is writing in 2007 and with a sense that something is seriously wrong about what is happening in this country. In some ways The End of America is a clarion call for people to wake up and realize that some of the fundamental rights and principles we learned in civics class are eroding for most of us and for others they have been completely eliminated. Wolf does a good job of acknowledging that those of us who are privileged along race and class lines are not at risk to the same degree that Arabs, Muslims and immigrants are today, but we should not wait to act until things get worse.
Much of the book provides recent incidents of how government policy should concern us all. She talks about professors being targeted for critiquing U.S. policy, the creation of a climate of fear, secret prisons, the use of paramilitary forces, the monitoring of citizens, manipulation of the press, and undermining the rule of law. If readers are not familiar with these issues, then the book will be a wake up call about the dangerous times we live in. However, it is written in such a way that it will leave readers wanting, wanting more information, more conversation, more evidence that our rights are being eroded. Even the seasoned historian and activist may find this book useful and refreshing. I think the strength of Naomi Wolf's book is her ability to convey the urgency of these issue as if you were talking to someone who only had a rudimentary understanding of current events. Too often when trying to motivate people that we come across in our every day lives we try to hit them over the head with what it is that we are passionate about. Activists and organizers can learn a lesson about how to communicate issues of urgency without sounding like the sky is falling. The End of America can be a useful tool to arm people for the struggle ahead of us.
Naomi Wolf, The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007).
