Madeleine Albright was born in 1937 and died in 2022 at the age of 84. Madeleine Albright’s background as the first female US Secretary of State and a diplomat with vast experience in global politics deeply informs Fascism: A Warning. Albright’s personal history as a refugee from Czechoslovakia, a country that experienced the rise of both fascist and communist regimes, gave her a unique perspective on the dangers of authoritarianism. Her deep understanding of international relations, honed over decades of service, lent credibility to her warnings about the fragility of democratic institutions and the resurgence of authoritarian ideologies.

Albright’s career in public service was marked by her advocacy for human rights, democracy, and global cooperation. During her time as Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton, she played a key role in the NATO intervention in the Balkans, which helped prevent further ethnic cleansing and violence in the region. These experiences are woven into the narrative of the book, where she draws on her firsthand encounters with authoritarian leaders, such as Slobodan Milošević, to illustrate how fascism can resurface in different forms under different pretexts.