Hitler's American Friends

The Third Reich's Supporters in the United States

By: Bradley W. Hart

Narrated by: Chris Ciulla

Hitler's American Friends by Bradley W. Hart is an audiobook examining the strange terrain of Nazi sympathizers, nonintervention campaigners and other voices in America who advocated on behalf of Nazi Germany in the years before World War II.

Americans who remember World War II reminisce about how it brought the country together. The less popular truth behind this warm nostalgia: until the attack on Pearl Harbor, America was deeply, dangerously divided.

Bradley W. Hart's Hitler's American Friends exposes the homegrown antagonists who sought to protect and promote Hitler, leave Europeans (and especially European Jews) to fend for themselves, and elevate the Nazi regime.

Some of these friends were Americans of German heritage who joined the Bund, whose leadership dreamed of installing a stateside Führer. Some were as bizarre and hair-raising as the Silver Shirt Legion, run by an eccentric who claimed that Hitler fulfilled a religious prophesy. Some were Midwestern Catholics like Father Charles Coughlin, an early right-wing radio star who broadcast anti-Semitic tirades. They were even members of Congress who used their franking privilege—sending mail at cost to American taxpayers—to distribute German propaganda. And celebrity pilot Charles Lindbergh ended up speaking for them all at the America First Committee.

We try to tell ourselves it couldn't happen here, but Americans are not immune to the lure of fascism. Hitler's American Friends is a powerful look at how the forces of evil manipulate ordinary people, how we stepped back from the ledge, and the disturbing ease with which we could return to it.

Riveting

Learned so much about the US's fascination with fascism. Turns out we cycle through the crazy and here's hoping that sanity prevails every time.

I bet the book was better…

A solid in-depth history about something those of us who were born in the Forties and after never learned in our classes - but should have. The parallels in Hitler’s American Friends to today, beg for a sequel: Putin’s American Friends. We can but hope that even though the public is ignorant of the book’s history, our national security services and the FBI are well aware of it and are making sure it doesn’t happen again.
I will read the book - so I can stop and re-read things I want to commit to memory, and to assign a narrator’s voice - in my head- that doesn’t go so fast, or feign a German accent.

Compelling historical research

Little known history of Nazi influence in the US, beginning in the pre-WWII years and progressing until the 1960’s, when most of the conspirators died. Highly recommended.

Don’t do accents.

1. Mr. Ciulla’s poor, half hearted attempts at foreign accents while reading direct quotes was an unnecessary distraction. 2. Saying, “Quote…unquote.” would have been of more help for all direct quotes, accented or not.

Fkitchen

This is so relevant the today's political and social atmosphere. It's Only been 80 years and yet it seems like we are living it again. Brilliant and highly recommend