Book Talk - Bernd Greiner: "Weißglut: Die inneren Kriege der USA. Eine Geschichte von 1900 bis heute"

What is wrong with the USA? Where does the poison in the political establishment come from? The lies, denunciations and demonization, the hatred of minorities and the relentlessness towards the weak? How did white heat become the political operating temperature? Donald Trump and his MAGA movement have roots that reach far back into the "American century". This book uncovers them.

Bernd Greiner tells a different story of the USA over the last hundred years, one that is as illuminating as it is depressing. It is the story of a society that has waged internal wars, fueled by a centrist extremism that is proving to be the political metronome of the country. Neither presidents nor parties are at the center of this story. At the center are self-appointed guardians of the common good, citizens who, in the name of democracy, deny others democratic participation - with minimal tolerance for the politically non-conformist, with uncompromising insistence on their own goals, with a missionary sense of mission. They have broken the backbone of the labour movement, banned the left from political life, marginalized critics of armaments and war and cemented the dominance of whites. Above all, the maxim that true power is based on the fear of others is enthroned. And that uncertainty and fear yield the greater profit. In other words, if Donald Trump were the only problem, America would only have a minor problem.

This event is part of our Amerikahaus Book Talks series.

ORGANIZER

Publisher C. H. Beck, Bavarian American House Foundation, Evangelical City Academy Munich