Thank you, PublicAffairs, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Mr. Book just finished The Reactionary Spirit: How America’s Most Insidious Political Tradition Swept The World, by Zack Beauchamp.

In addition to looking at the anti-democratic authoritarian movement in the United States, the author also looks at Hungary, Israel and India. I’m not convinced that Israel qualifies as a case of a country backsliding away from democracy, since it has been an apartheid state ever since its creation and thus its classification as a real democracy is in serious question (of course, the same needs to be said about the US for the vast majority of its history).

The strongest parts of the book were the chapters on Hungary and Israel. There was some good information in the book, but there have been other books that have done better jobs covering these topics.

So, I give this book a B. Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a B equates to 3 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews

Mr. Book originally finished reading this on July 15, 2024.