10-Minute Talks

In this 10-Minute Talk, Sarah Churchwell offers a brief history of "America First" and answers the perennial question of American fascism: can it happen here?

Show Notes

As ongoing protests against racial injustice and police brutality in the United States are met with militarised police action, tear gas, the National Guard, and threats of military intervention from representatives of the Trump administration and U.S. Congress, many observers are asking if this is what American fascism looks like. It is a question the Trump campaign itself raised when it decided to revive a forgotten political slogan, "America First" in 2016. In this 10-Minute Talk, Sarah Churchwell offers a brief history of "America First" and answers the perennial question of American fascism: can it happen here?

Speaker: Professor Sarah Churchwell, Chair of Public Understanding of the Humanities and Professorial Fellow in American Literature, IES, School of Advanced Study University of London and Director, Being Human Festival.

Transcript: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/podcasts/10-minute-talks-america-first-and-american-fascism/

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The world’s leading professors explain the latest thinking in the humanities and social sciences in just 10 minutes.