Levan Book Chat—Steven J. Ross, The Secret War Against Hate

A discussion of Steven J. Ross's new book, The Secret War Against Hate: American Resistance to Antisemitism and White Supremacy (Bloomsbury, 2026). The author will be joined in conversation by Steven Hahn (NYU) and Michael Kazin (Georgetown University), moderated by Alaina Morgan (USC). Registration is required. REGISTER HERE

About the Book: Americans today like to believe that the end of World War II brought a new era of tolerance in the United States. But antisemitism and racism went up-not down-after the war's end. Violence broke out in cities across the country, and the number of organized hate groups more than doubled from 1940 to 1946. In this shocking account of a resurgence of White Supremacy in America, celebrated historian Steven J. Ross reveals how four key leaders-Emory Burke, J. B. Stoner, James Madole, and George Lincoln Rockwell-worked together to “finish the job Hitler had begun,” launching deadly attacks on Jews and African Americans and building a network of terrorists across the U.S. In response to this “war of hate,” three men-Arnold Forster of the Anti-­Defamation League, George Mintzer of the American Jewish Committee, and James Sheldon of the Non-­Sectarian Anti­-Nazi League-along with dozens of men and women, launched a multipronged effort: They infiltrated, monitored, and undermined these hate groups, putting their own safety on the line and scoring important victories that, today, have been all but forgotten.

Tracing the extraordinary work of these unsung heroes, The Secret War Against Hate provides a groundbreaking reconsideration of the legacy of the “Good War,” and essential reading on how America today can beat hate once again and build a just and united nation.

About the Author: Steven J. Ross is Distinguished Professor of History, Dean’s Professor of History, and Marion and Myron Casden Director of the Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life. He has written extensively in the areas of working-class history, social history, film history, and political history. He is the author of Workers On the Edge: Work, Leisure, and Politics in Industrializing Cincinnati, 1788-1890 (1985), Working-Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America (1998), Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics (2011), and Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywoodand America (2018).

Open to attendants outside of USC. An excerpt of the book will be made available to registered attendants. Registration before the event is required.

This event is part of the Levan Institute for the Humanities' “Book Chats” series, conversations about new books published by USC scholars in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. To see more events in this series, including recordings of past events, visit https://dornsife.usc.edu/levan-institute/book-chats/.