Steven J. Ross — The Secret War Against Hate
Historian Steven J. Ross and Dr. Robert J. Williams discuss how Americans organized against antisemitism and white supremacy in the 1930s and 1940s — and what those efforts can teach us now.
Why we picked this
Ross spent years in the archives recovering the story of Americans who fought domestic fascism before it had that name — the parallels to the present are unavoidable, and the tactics they developed are worth studying.
In The Secret War Against Hate, historian Steven J. Ross uncovers the largely forgotten story of how American activists, journalists, and undercover operatives worked to expose and counter the rise of organized antisemitism and white supremacist movements in the 1930s and 1940s. Drawing on FBI files, private archives, and oral histories, Ross reconstructs a covert campaign to infiltrate and discredit groups modeled on European fascist movements.
Ross is a professor of history at USC and author of Hitler in Los Angeles, which documented the Nazi espionage network operating in Southern California before World War II. His new book extends that investigation to the organized resistance — the people who recognized the danger early and took risks to counter it. He’s joined in conversation by Dr. Robert J. Williams for a discussion of what those historical actors can teach a contemporary audience confronting resurgent extremism.
The book arrives at a moment when the history of domestic anti-fascist organizing is newly relevant, and Ross’s commitment to primary sources and specific detail makes this history feel grounded rather than polemical. For readers who want to understand how ordinary Americans once pushed back against organized hatred, this is an essential conversation.