Positive reviews

Author David Pryce-Jones wrote: "Jonah Goldberg argues that liberals today have doctrinal and emotional roots in twentieth-century European fascism. Many people will be shocked just by the thought that long discredited fascism could mutate into the spirit of another age. It's always exhilarating when someone takes on received opinion, but this is not a work of pamphleteering. Goldberg's insight, supported by a great deal of learning, happens to be right."

Publishers Weekly said the "provocative and well-researched" book "probes modern liberalism's spooky origins in early 20th-century fascist politics" and that the book is "seriously argued and funny."

Larry Thornberry of the Washington Times called the book "a major contribution to understanding the history of political ideas and attitudes over the last two centuries and change."

Ron Radosh of The New York Sun wrote that Goldberg "has read widely and thoroughly, not only in the primary sources of fascism, but in the political and intellectual history written by the major historians of the subject."

Marvin Olasky of World Magazine wrote,

Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism is a flawed but useful attempt to redraw the political map. Goldberg shows how Woodrow Wilson began and Franklin Roosevelt amplified an almost-fascist concentration of power in Washington. FDR boasted of his 'wholesome and proper' buildup of power because he was leading 'a people's government.' Goldberg shows how liberals came to believe that authoritarian government is fine as long as representatives of 'the people'—themselves—are in charge.