"A GEM OF A BOOK, FROM ENGAGING ANECDOTE TO PERSONAL NARRATIVE TO SWEEPING HISTORY, AND BEST OF ALL, THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN YESTERDAY AND TODAY." - John Christgau, author of '"Enemies': World War II Alien Internment"

"AHEAD OF THE TIMES OR TIMELY? SO MUCH OF WHAT'S BEING SAID NOW IS JUST WHAT YOU WROTE ABOUT. I THINK YOUR BOOK IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT I HAVE READ.... THANKS, STEVE" - Dave T.

"A MUST READ FOR ALL AMERICANS CONCERNED ABOUT THEIR FREEDOM." - Ron Standerfer for Reader Views

WHY DID AMERICANS ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN? As the government rolled out its domestic security apparatus after 9/11, I began thinking about historical lessons. I was struck by how much these new security manifestations echoed the past, specifically World War II.

HISTORY OFFERS MANY LESSONS, BUT WHICH ARE MOST RELEVANT? Many writers and commentators have stated the obvious: history repeats itself, or nearly so. But how, specifically? Which history? Policymakers, the media, and the public often embrace simplistic or muddled historical lessons, then manipulate them to affirm their assumptions.

"Security subsists, too, in fidelity to freedom's first principles." —Justice Anthony Kennedy

HOMELAND INSECURITY is the book I always intended to write. It emphasizes the influence of historical precedent on domestic security practices and the contest between security and the Constitution that is the heart of the story. I observe the impact on detainees and their families of profiling, FBI bungling, military commissions, secret arrests, suspension of due process and habeas corpus, deportation, extraordinary rendition, and second-class citizenship.

CAN IT HAPPEN AGAIN? The answer to that question may be the ultimate lesson of this tragic episode. Read more about the book on my Blog.

"FASCINATING AND CHILLING..." - Oral History Review

Critics praised Stephen Fox's America's Invisible Gulag as "must reading for all concerned about a repetition and erosion of civil liberties." Now, the award-winning author presents FEAR ITSELF (2007 ed.), a revised and expanded edition of the original, including new chapters on the role of German spies at Pearl Harbor and the forced deportation of Germans from Latin America.

Encouraged by President Franklin Roosevelt, who had warned earlier against giving in to fear, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI rounded up nearly 11,000 people of German ancestry, including Jewish refugees from occupied Europe and over 4,000 residents of Latin America.

Weaving together first-person interviews and government records in this unique study, Fox relates the inside story of internment and exclusion, and suggests answers to many key questions. Among them: What methods did the Justice Department and FBI employ? Why were some Germans nabbed but not others? Why were Jewish refugees and Latin Germans included? Why did internments continue for four years after the end of the war?

"Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth—more than ruin—more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit." —Bertrand Russell

"BRAVISSIMO!" - Andrew F. Rolle, author of "The Italian Americans: Troubled Roots" and "The Immigrant Upraised"

UNCIVIL LIBERTIES powerfully demonstrates oral history's ability to challenge common assumptions. While the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II has been extensively reported, few are aware that the federal government also enacted a program that forced thousands of West Coast Italian and German aliens and their families to leave their homes and jobs. Other Italians, including American citizens whose loyalty was deemed doubtful, were interned or excluded without due process.

"I tell you it was a crazy thing. Whoever thought up that law had screws loose someplace." —Mary Tolomei

In addition to extensive interviews, the book relies on government documents and newspaper accounts to reveal this little-known chapter in American history. The painful, long-suppressed memories elicited in these interviews serve as a reminder of the fragility of the civil liberties of all people in a time of national crisis.

"A moving WW II narrative highlighting unfamiliar facts and events and questioning historical 'truths.' A memorable read! You won't be disappointed." —'Gold Star' - Amazon

"Displays a powerful ability to tell a story, a sharp eye for vivid detail and an ardent sensitivity to precise language.... A fast-paced, compelling narrative of kindness and caring in spite of disillusionment over national security, patriotism, medical professionalism, military competence, bureaucratic power and family loyalty. It is a compelling and poignant read." —'Pacific Beach Bum' - iBooks

"A compelling read. Fictional characters mingle with historical figures and events in Nazi Germany and World War II America. The plot moves swiftly as characters come together, lose one another, and unknowingly cross paths over territory from Germany to the American Northwest. A great read for a small price." —'arcataellen' - iBooks

ILLUSIONS follows the fictitious Kaufmann family and friends as they struggle to survive the Second World War (some elements of the story are based on actual persons and events).

"Engaging and well told, a page-turner. It's a story, fictionalized, of course, that few people know, loaded with irony and 'what ifs,' which are always fascinating. History abounds with alternatives, and Infamy! is no exception.

Above all, what are we to make of the FBI's ineptitude and Franklin Roosevelt's duplicity. The author challenges us to consider that 'the 'infamous' that fall (1941) were legion.' I found it fascinating to create my list of possibilities. Fox is correct; they were 'legion.'" —'Gold Star' - Amazon

"Stephen Fox's INFAMY! cleverly mixes fact and fiction ... to bring us the inside story of the days leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. We are introduced to the Steiners, a real life ex-pat German family living in Honolulu, a family with the familiar stresses and foibles common to family life ... What are the Steiners up to? They visit the Japanese Consulate; their nine year-old son takes the long way to school and uses a telescope to study the harbor. They always need money. Meanwhile, one of the married FBI agents begins a passionate love affair with a beautiful young woman who unbeknownst to him is the Steiners' daughter ... Why does J. Edgar Hoover insist the Steiners not be taken in for questioning? We know, of course, what happened at Pearl Harbor. What we don't know is what role if any the Steiners played, or what happened to them and the agents who were on their case in the days and years following the attack. In INFAMY! Fox gives us the fascinating details." —'Doug Ingold' - Amazon

INFAMY! is the story of a greedy family's 'Faustian bargain' and its consequences. It is a fictional version of the colossal intelligence and investigative failure that drew the United States into World War II. The story is based on actual events. The family at the center of the tale is real, as are the president, his cabinet, some federal officials, military officers and J. Edgar Hoover. All other characters are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

INFAMY! belonged not simply to President Franklin Roosevelt's call for a war declaration. The infamous that fall were legion. This is a story of what might have been. The characters at the center of the story had the power to change history.

FROM THE BOOK: Stijn De Meester spent an early November afternoon near Ennis, Montana, doing what he loved, his brushes telling a story of the Madison River and the range of the same name whose shoulders shelter it. This landscape would be for Marge, he decided, not some well-heeled stranger.