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The US Antifascism Reader
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How antifascism is as American as apple pie
Since the birth of fascism in the 1920s, well before the global renaissance of “white nationalism,” the United States has been home to its own distinct fascist movements, some of which decisively influenced the course of US history. Yet long before Antifa became a household word in the United States, they were met, time and again, by an equally deep antifascist current. Many on the left are unaware that the United States has a rich antifascist tradition, because it has rarely been discussed as such, nor has it been accessible in one place. This reader reconstructs the history of US antifascism the twenty-first century, showing how generations of writers, organisers, and fighters spoke to each other over time.
Reviews
Praise for Haunted by Hitler:
With insight and grace, Christopher Vials demonstrates compelling new ways of understanding a complicated tradition of the Left and U.S. culture. The steady flow of astute interpretations and commentary adds up to scholarship of enduring importance, a treasure trove for the specialist and general reader alike.
Praise for: Un-American: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Century of World Revolution
Un-American is a bold and long overdue inquiry into ‘the late Du Bois,’ full of keen originality and brilliantly associative thinking. With his signature level of professional competence, Mullen defies easy categorizations to track the black radical scholar’s diasporic identity through the optic of ‘world revolution.’ This investigation, vexed by the political horrors of imperialism, fascism, and Stalinism, yields unexpected and revealing parallels with the ideas of revolutionary thinkers such as Leon Trotsky and C. L. R. James. The result is a landmark study in the contours of affiliation, expanding the archive and breaking down polarized thought. This is a book to engage, chew over, and debate.
Praise for: Un-American: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Century of World Revolution:
In this expansively researched and expertly crafted biography of W.E.B. Du Bois (1868–1963) on the global stage, Mullen revisits the often contradictory and dialectical actions, thoughts, hopes, and writings of the sociologist and civil rights activist through post-World War II toward the end of the Cold War.... Mullen has considerable depth and nuance for the work of revisiting his subject as an international figure.... Mullen succeeds in weaving a revisionist narrative that positions Du Bois as a world actor within the revolutionary movements of the 20th century. VERDICT For readers interested in historical biographies situated in international politics and Cold War history.
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Praise for: Un-American: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Century of World Revolution:
Bill Mullen's new book Un-American explores...Du Bois' thought more thoroughly than any previous work. While every commentator on Du Bois has acknowledged his politics, Mullen shows us how central revolutionary thought was to Du Bois' entire intellectual trajectory in the twentieth century.... This book will open an entirely new window on the radical politics that animated most of his life's work.... Mullen's intervention will surely be felt...for years to come and deserves to be read by everyone with an interest in Black politics and the history of American socialism.International Socialist Review -
Praise for: Un-American: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Century of World Revolution:
This is the sort of thoughtful and challenging book that remains with you, that gets you nodding your head unconsciously in agreement, muttering disapprovals, racing to the bookshelf to look up something. It is an essential addition to the canon of W. E. B. Du Bois scholarship.... Mullen wonderfully braids Du Bois's intellectual journey to an eclectic group of revolutionaries likewise drawn—at various times and in different ways—to the project of communist internationalism.... And he explores Du Bois's engagements with liberation struggles in India and China, Japan's global emergence, the specter of Stalinism, and the global peace work engendered by a dynamic cadre of leftist black women, particularly Claudia Jones and Shirley Graham Du Bois. Mullen's treatment of Smedley, Strong, and Jones is particularly sharp and illuminating.Journal of American History -
Praise for: Popular Fronts: Chicago and African-American Cultural Politics 1935-1946:
Mullen marries investigation and a well-executed idea of story in this well-researched piece of scholarship on black art, black literature and literary publications, and the cultural politics of Chicago's African American community.Choice -
Praise for: Popular Fronts: Chicago and African-American Cultural Politics 1935-1946:
Mullen's mission is to refresh our cultural memories. He wants to remind us not only of African American cultural production in the 'Chicago Renaissance' that took place before and during World War II, but also that the U.S. Left--in the form of the Communist Party and the individuals and organizations of its Popular Front--played a significant role in the period.American Historical Review -
Praise for: Popular Fronts: Chicago and African-American Cultural Politics 1935-1946:
All readers who are interested in the history of Chicago, African American culture, and leftist politics are sure to find some benefit from Mullen's richly detailed and boldly revisionist study.Journal of Illinois History -
Praise for Afro-Orientalism:
In Afro-Orientalism, Bill Mullen produces an alternative history to the postcolonial present that is rich with theoretical interest and political promise. -
Praise for W.E.B. Du Bois: Revolutionary Across the Color Line:
W. E. B. Du Bois: Revolutionary Across the Color Line serves as a timely introduction to this impressive and somewhat imposing figure, while also reframing Du Bois’s life and work beyond the boundaries of the American context.Inside Higher Ed -
Praise for W.E.B. Du Bois: Revolutionary Across the Color Line:
In this new biography, Mullen interprets the seismic political developments of the Twentieth Century through the revolutionary life of W.E.B. Du Bois—focusing not just on his Civil Rights work, but also examining Du Bois’s attitudes towards socialism, the USSR, China’s Communist Revolution, and the relationship between capitalism, poverty and racism.Critical Theory -
Praise for W.E.B. Du Bois: Revolutionary Across the Color Line:
With Du Bois’s Marxist leanings in mind, Mullen’s strategy is to reinterpret much of what is already known. As biography, the book is very well written, informative, and insightful.Choice -
Praise for W.E.B. Du Bois: Revolutionary Across the Color Line:
While some scholars have tried to domesticate DuBois and confine his intellectual and political life within the boundaries of capitalist hegemony, DuBois was in fact a life-long revolutionary committed to socialism, Pan-Africanism and Black Liberation, a man who late in life – partly as a direct challenge to McCarthyism and the Cold War – joined the Communist Party, USA. Mullen’s W.E.B. DuBois: Revolutionary Across The Color Line corrects the record, highlighting a side of DuBois many would like us to forget. It is a must read for anyone interested in the life and work of this pioneering Black revolutionary.People's World -
Praise for W.E.B. Du Bois: Revolutionary Across the Color Line:
Examines the life of W. E. B. Du Bois and his relationship to key questions of the revolutionary left in the twentieth century, placing Du Bois within a framework of figures of the global left and demonstrating the centrality of radical internationalism to his life and thought.Journal of Economic Literature -
Praise for W.E.B. Du Bois: Revolutionary Across the Color Line:
Mullen’s illuminating biography is essential for understanding the political, personal, and intellectual challenges Du Bois faced in his lifetime search for a black revolutionary praxis. -
Praise for Haunted by Hitler:
Vials’s rehabilitation of the long-standing and abiding American antifascist tradition is a game-changer for those interested in the ‘f word’ (fascism) and for those who want to understand both liberal and left politics in the ‘American Century. -
Praise for Haunted by Hitler:
Vials’s scholarship—its mix of secondary sources drawn from a wide array of contemporary and current scholars and archival and primary materials—produces a rich matrix that grounds the argument. This is a compelling read. -
Praise for Haunted by Hitler:
An involved study . . . Vials's exploration of Rod Serling's concern about right-wing extremism is worth the price of this volume and provides fascinating reflections about The Twilight Zone. Recommended.Choice -
Praise for Haunted by Hitler:
Vials has much to offer. His sources are many and varied, ranging from interviews with some of those engaged in antifascist efforts in the earliest days to material culled from the electronic databases of American newspapers and the recent work of other scholars. He has insightful commentary and a cogent argument for recognizing the value of antifascists movements of the past eight decades and understanding their relevance today.Yearbook of German American Studies -
Praise for Haunted by Hitler:
The governing idea for the author is that properly evaluating these troublesome political trends is essential to the ability to counter them effectively. In service of this project, he offers readers three crucial tools: clear definition, astute historical grounding, and perhaps most absorbing, and indexical view of a fascinating repository of left-liberal, antifascist scholarly and cultural articulations.Against the Current -
Praise for Haunted by Hitler:
[An] impressive study of the history and vitality of antifascism, . . . clear and eminently readable.Journal of American History -
Praise for Haunted by Hitler:
Haunted by Hitler is rich and exciting to read and leaves no doubt that a history of anti-fascism in America exists.Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft -
Praise for Haunted by Hitler:
Christopher Vials's impressively researched and politically important book is the first to argue that 'anti-fascism has . . . constituted a coherent body of cultural work in the United States'.Science & Society -
This is a crucial reader for our current political moment. It is a massive and rich archive, historicizing, theorizing, querying, and interrogating fascism in its many US varieties. This reader unearths and connects the anti-fascist responses in a plethora of sites—the Black Panthers and other anti-racist movements, LGBT pink triangle activists, and the Antifa. It will give you the knowledge to embolden yourself to resist and revolt.
, Anti-Racist Feminist Activist, Ithaca College -
This volume should be read by everyone who thinks they know what fascism is, and everyone who does not, for it provides a rich and indispensable set of materials to give depth and meaning to the word 'fascism', precisely when we need a comprehensive and varied archive to inform anti-fascist struggles. If you want to know what fascism has been and can be, read this book. We ignore it at our peril.
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Serious about destroying fascism? Study the US Antifascism Reader.
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Exceptionally well organized and presented.