I know who Rachel Maddow is and that she has a show on MSNBC, but that is about the extent of my knowledge of her. I’ve never watched one of her shows or read any of her books; this is the first.

In “Prequel” Maddow takes us back in history to an America that is watching as Adolph Hitler invades neighboring countries. There were two forces in play in our country; those who wanted to fight back against Nazi facism and those who did not. In the run up to WW II America is a divided country with those who wish to preserve democracy on one side and far-right “Christian Nationalists” who would embrace Nazi rule on the other. Having not been alive during those days, I had no idea how much like America today it was back then.

Having lived through the days of Cold War hatred of Russia, it has been difficult for me to understand the words and actions today of those who a mere 30 years ago would have opposed Russian leaders and yet today want to defend a dictator like Putin. But when you look at the parallels between what was happening in America during the rise of Hitler and what is happening today, you see that history is repeating itself.

And the point Maddow makes is that we only preserved democracy back then because there were dedicated politicians and private citizens who stood against the facism that was toppling Europe. The only way we will do so today is for the same to happen today. We need to take the lessons that history teaches us and apply them to preserving our democracy…again.

I highly recommend “Prequel” to those who, like me, were not witness to the threat our country faced before but are witness to the threat it faces today.