Blood red lines How navitism fuels the right

Journalist O'Connor debuts with a searing and wide-ranging investigation into "the relationship between capitalism and white supremacy" and "the machinery of exploitation and oppression used by the ruling class" in America. He claims that U.S.--owned factories in Mexico ignored government orders to close during the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in worker deaths; details links between the 1970s environmental and population control movements and today's most strident anti-immigration think tanks; and documents how technologies developed by Palantir, a surveillance company cofounded by billionaire investor Peter Thiel, have been used to conduct workplace immigration raids and investigate adults who come forward to claim unaccompanied children detained at the U.S.-Mexico border. Despite the powerful people and vast fortunes behind the nativist agenda, O'Connor finds hope in recent protests against ICE and police brutality, and the rise of left-wing politicians including congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He endorses German communist Clara Zetkin's 1932 call for an "iron-like community of struggle of all working people," envisioning a broad-based coalition of progressive groups to defeat "today's border fascism." Though the book's focus wanders and its Marxist ideology feels somewhat half-baked, O'Connor's impressive research and investigative skills shine through. Liberals will cheer this impassioned manifesto. (Jan.)