They disseminate their ideas on the alternative broadcast networks and through their own publishers and schools. Their intellectual leaders demand the complete dismantling of the secular state; their followers have been roused to a fever pitch of resentment and despair.

Describing themselves as true patriots, they wrap themselves in the flag - but all it might take, writes veteran journalist (and Harvard Divinity School graduate) Chris Hedges, is one more national crisis of the order of September 11 for the Christian Right to seize power and reveal themselves for what they really are - the American heirs to Fascism.

With a step-by-step breakdown of how they started and where they are, Chris Hedges conducts brilliant on-the-ground reporting and produces a deeply compelling work of cultural and political anthropology and an impassioned, no-holds-barred polemic. American Fascists is sure to be one of the most talked about books of the year.