Reviews
The Minuteman: The Forgotten Legacy of Nat Arno and the Fight Against Newark's Nazis by Greg Donahue
erictb's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Medical content, Violence, and Antisemitism
thewordweaver's review
3.0
Great subject, should’ve gone into greater depth. A more narrative approach may have been a wiser choice.
thepolybrary's review
dark
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Audio Notes: Listened at 1.2x speed. The narrator has a very nice, interesting voice. He adds slight accents for different direct character quotations, nothing over the top. Would definitely listen to something narrated by Jonathan Davis again!
I'd never heard of Nat Arno. Or of the Newark Nazis. Or had any idea that there was a large Nazi movement in the United States before World War 2. Not sure if my memory is just lacking, or my history education, or possibly (probably) both.
The Minuteman is a quick dive into the world of the Jewish mob in New Jersey in the 1930s, the unrest that brewed there and in other cities with both large German and Jewish populations, and a look at the life of Nat Arno, a Jewish boxer turned gangster, and his often violent fight against the rising Nazi movement in his home state. While his methods can't exactly be condoned - even if he tried to avoid outright killing anyone, he was unapologetically violent in breaking up Nazi meetings and demonstrations - his dogged defense of his own people and culture and early recognition of what the Nazi groups were heading towards certainly played a large part in events of those years leading up to America's involvement in the war.
The author compares the Minutemen to modern day Antifa, not an exact correspondence but some of the methods and attitudes are implied to be the same. There are a ton of reviews on Audible that are absolutely OUTRAGED at this comparison. It seems like neither group is one that an entirely logical, law-abiding citizen would want to emulate, and both were/are organizations that take aim at groups that spew hate and bigotry about one group of people or another. I don't have much more knowledge of Antifa than I do of the Minutemen, so I'll leave it at that. Just the level of pearl-clutching outrage in the reviews because of the comparison seems a bit overblown.
I'd never heard of Nat Arno. Or of the Newark Nazis. Or had any idea that there was a large Nazi movement in the United States before World War 2. Not sure if my memory is just lacking, or my history education, or possibly (probably) both.
The Minuteman is a quick dive into the world of the Jewish mob in New Jersey in the 1930s, the unrest that brewed there and in other cities with both large German and Jewish populations, and a look at the life of Nat Arno, a Jewish boxer turned gangster, and his often violent fight against the rising Nazi movement in his home state. While his methods can't exactly be condoned - even if he tried to avoid outright killing anyone, he was unapologetically violent in breaking up Nazi meetings and demonstrations - his dogged defense of his own people and culture and early recognition of what the Nazi groups were heading towards certainly played a large part in events of those years leading up to America's involvement in the war.
The author compares the Minutemen to modern day Antifa, not an exact correspondence but some of the methods and attitudes are implied to be the same. There are a ton of reviews on Audible that are absolutely OUTRAGED at this comparison. It seems like neither group is one that an entirely logical, law-abiding citizen would want to emulate, and both were/are organizations that take aim at groups that spew hate and bigotry about one group of people or another. I don't have much more knowledge of Antifa than I do of the Minutemen, so I'll leave it at that. Just the level of pearl-clutching outrage in the reviews because of the comparison seems a bit overblown.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
nytephoenyx's review
informative
fast-paced
3.5
I knew nothing about this history, which is disconcerting because it’s pretty important. Well delivered and informative - definitely worth the listen.
jessiek04's review
5.0
CW: This probably goes without saying, but there is significant discussion of antisemitism and antisemitic violence in this audiobook. There are just a lot of stories about violence in this.
I definitely recommend listening to this audiobook. This history is worth hearing.
I definitely recommend listening to this audiobook. This history is worth hearing.
thetarantulalounge's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
This audiobook tells a timely story that happens to be a hundred years old. Greg Donahue published the Audible original audiobook The Minuteman in January of 2020. I don’t know whether or not it was published as a response to the rise of anti-Semitism in the U.S. during the Trump administration or what, but unfortunately it remains a relevant look about how to respond to hatred and fascism. Do you fight fire with fire? Do you fight fire with water? Maybe a little bit of both?
The Minuteman himself was Nat Arno, a New Jersey boxer who got into mid-level crime and oh, also, community organizing to fight Nazis in America. A polymath, of sorts. “Nat Arno” was Nat Arno the boxer, but his given name was Sidney Abramowitz. He was a Jewish man in Jersey in the years leading up to World War II, and he led “The Minutemen” (anti-fascist enforcers against Nazis, etc.) for years before heading to the battlefront and then home.
“The Minutemen” showed up at pro-German, anti-American meetings throughout the 1930s, using tactics like stink bombs, tear gas, and good old fashioned beatings to try and stomp out the rise of fascism in America. They frequently made headlines, negotiated with law enforcement, and occasionally tried to break up the Nazi family picnics (a real thing!?).
Arno had fans and detractors, and I imagine his methods would be controversial today, as well. Fighting fascism is a given, but the question is, how? With violence, or with something else?
Donahue doesn’t exactly give an answer, here, but there do seem to be a lot of people that were glad Arno did what he did, and Nazis taking beatings were decidedly not among them. But did those beatings exacerbate or detract from the righteousness of Arno’s cause? A fun read, but also one that makes you think how to face evil in the world.
(Interestingly, there was a She-Hulk run in the 2010s about a similar story with a warehouse full of Nazis in the U.S. I have that whole series and that was the first thing I thought of when I read this book!)