SANTA CRUZ — Fascistic forces are on the rise in Europe and America, according to former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who said the polity would do well to heed the warning signs to avoid the tumult of the mid-20th century.

Albright, who became the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government when she was appointed Secretary of State in 1997 by former President Bill Clinton, was in Santa Cruz to discuss her most recent book “Fascism: A Warning,” in conversation with UCSC alumna and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Martha Mendoza.

She was met Tuesday evening by an enthusiastic crowd of more than 2,500 at Kaiser Permanente Arena — the largest audience on her book tour to date, according to Albright.

In her book, a signed copy of which was given to each attendee, Albright reflects on patterns found in the rise of fascism from World War I to the present day.

Fascism, she said, “started, for the most part, because people were dissatisfied,” referencing social turmoil prior to the rise of Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany after World War I.

But where, asked Mendoza, is fascism rising in modern times?

“Well, let’s begin with Europe,” Albright said, adding she is “very concerned” with the consolidation of power of Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and a general invigoration of “illiberal democracy” — majority rule, without minority rights. She cited similar forces at work in Poland, Turkey and Venezuela.

The rise of the modern fascistic leaders, according to Albright, is notably happening not through revolution but at the ballot box.

“Only the Soviet Union and China had revolutions,” she said. “These other countries that I talk about were all elected.”

In a time when accusations of fascism are increasingly bandied about, Albright emphasized the importance of defining the term.

“The definition of (a fascist) is somebody who does in fact identify with one group at the expense of another, thinks that the press is the enemy of the people, believes that various institutional structures don’t work and is prepared to use violence to maintain power,” she said.

Albright sees those forces slowly creeping into prominence in governments worldwide. The best quote in her book, she said, comes from Mussolini — who famously said if you pluck a chicken one feather at a time, it will go without notice.

“There’s quite a lot of feather plucking going on,” Albright said.

For Albright, concern about the rise of fascism is inescapably personal.

Born in Czechoslovakia in 1937, her Jewish family fled the German occupation to Britain the following year. After the defeat of the Nazis, her family briefly returned to to Czechoslovakia until her father, a diplomat, was forced to resign from the government after a Soviet Union-backed communist takeover in 1948. The family emigrated to the U.S., where Albright immersed herself in the study of international relations and became a citizen.

Following stints in academia, as a foreign policy adviser and as a National Security Council liaison, Clinton appointed Albright to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1993 and to Secretary of State in his second term.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Albright reflected on regrets over the U.S.’s slow response to the Rwandan genocide, the diplomatic relations with North Korea, her storied pin collection and her continued belief in American exceptionalism on the world stage.

“I happen to believe, given my own background, that we are the indispensable nation, but nothing says we must do it alone,” she said, criticizing the foreign policy stance of the Trump administration. “I think the U.S. is AWOL, and when we are AWOL, things are going to happen that hurt us … ‘America first’ ends up being ‘America alone.’”

So what, an audience member asked in a submitted question, can be done for those who believe her thesis?

Run for office or support those who do, Albright said, lauding the early start among Democrats to the 2020 presidential campaign — and have good-faith discussions with political opponents. “What we need to be doing is talking about what is going on and really having a way of trying to sort out what some of the issues are in a civilized way, and I’m glad it has begun, and I think we need to talk about it a lot.”

The event was hosted by Bookshop Santa Cruz — the largest event in the store’s five-decade history — and was co-sponsored by the UCSC Humanities Institute and Temple Beth El.

The discussion kicked off a year of planned programming at Bookshop themed “2020 Vision,” according to owner Casey Coonerty Protti. More information about future programming is forthcoming.

“It was one of the best events I’ve ever had the pleasure of being part of, and I think it was made even more special that it was happening on the night of the State of the Union and we could have somebody of (Albright’s) calibre and leadership and perspective to give us clarity about what’s going on around the world right now,” Coonerty Protti said Wednesday.

A small number of protesters picketed outside the Kaiser Permanente Arena, criticizing Albright’s support for military intervention in Iraq during the Clinton administration. But inside, enthusiasm among attendees was high, and the discussion was bookended with standing ovations.

“It was inspirational,” said Donna Schipper, of Aptos. “It gives me hope the human spirit is alive and wants what is good and truthful and protects the values that we all enjoy in our country — that our Democratic principles must prevail.”