It Could Happen Here

“Refreshingly candid... Get off Instagram and read this book.” —Sacha Baron Cohen

From the dynamic head of ADL, an impassioned argument about the terrifying path that America finds itself on today—and how we can save ourselves.

It Could Happen Here tackles the unimaginable prospect that unbridled hate and systematic violence could threaten us or our families. Although it seems unlikely, history has shown that it has happened in our lifetimes across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. And it could happen here.

Today, as CEO of the storied ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), Jonathan Greenblatt has made it his personal mission to demonstrate how antisemitism, racism, and other insidious forms of intolerance can destroy a society. These begin as quiet prejudices and, over time, mutate into horrific acts of brutality. In this urgent book, Greenblatt sounds an alarm, warning that this age-old trend is gathering momentum in the United States—and that violence on an even larger, more catastrophic scale could be just around the corner.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Drawing on ADL’s decades of experience in fighting hate through investigative research, education programmes, and legislative victories, as well as his own personal story and background in business and government, Greenblatt offers a bracing primer on how we—as individuals, organisations, and society—can strike back against hate. He shows that just because it could happen here, does not mean that the unthinkable is inevitable.