Against the Fascist Creep - Softcover

Ross, Alexander Reid

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1849352445 ISBN 13: 9781849352444

Publisher: AK Press, 2017

Synopsis

What are the origins of fascism’s current rise in the US and around the world?
What are its links to Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, Kris Kobach, Ken Blackwell, and others in the new administration?
How has Vladimir Putin used the global far right to increase his power and influence?
Where did hate-speech celebrities like Richard Spencer and Milo Yiannopolous come from?
What role has Silicon Valley played in the fascist creep?

As the election of Donald Trump shows, fascism in all its white nationalist and alt-right” permutations is alive and well in the United States. A terrifying tour of the history and influence of the forces that helped bring the forty-fifth president to power, Against the Fascist Creep maps the connections and names the names. It traces today’s often-disguised forms of rightwing extremism through the decades and across the globe to show how infiltration is a conscious and clandestine program for neofascist groups that seek to co-opt and undermine both mainstream and left-wing institutions in order to win elections, take political power, and create a new racist and authoritarian society.

About this title

Review

“A must-read book for all those looking for a comprehensive overview of the history and space of fascist ideologies and their current transformations.” —Marlene Laruelle, author of Russian Eurasianism: An Ideology of Empire

“Activists, journalists, and researchers who want to understand a surging far right, and how it borrows from the left, should start here.” —Jason Wilson, columnist, The Guardian

“This original and sweeping study is crucial reading for scholars and journalists trying to understand the complex and often contradictory relationships among populism, anti-elite demagoguery, scapegoating, conspiracism, and fascism.” —Chip Berlet, co-author of Right-Wing Populism in America

“Recent historiographical fashion has tended to portray fascism as a revolutionary form of authoritarian nationalist ideology. However, fascism’s attempt to synthesize left and right could produce conservative as well as radical mutations. Alexander Reid Ross’s book helps us understand how fascism in the contemporary era is developing in this complex way, and raises vital issues about how it differs from the rising tide of national populism.” —Roger Eatwell, author of Fascism: A History

“Reid Ross gets to the heart of why it is so difficult to study neo- fascism: Its constant mutations and multiple, sometimes contradictory strands. His book is full of interesting stories about, as he puts it, ‘lesser known currents within the fascist movement,’ on both sides of the Atlantic. The notion of ‘the fascist creep’ helps us to understand how fascist ideals migrate from left to right and right to left and how they surreptitiously slip into the heart of the body politic. This book is essential reading for all those seeking to understand and challenge fascism and neofascism.” —Tamir Bar-On, author of Where Have All the Fascists Gone?

“What Alexander Reid Ross has achieved is remarkable, weaving together a critical historical analysis with a deep understanding and an eye for resistance that can help to inspire a new generation of antifascist organizing.” —Shane Burley, journalist

“Alexander Reid Ross has written an important study on the contemporary extreme right. Carefully dissecting its antecedents ... he uncovers how a variegated and often factious movement of rightist groups, activists, philosophers, and theoreticians evolved over the past several decades. His book cogently explains how these rightists synthesized seemingly contradictory political orientations, including fascism, socialism, authoritarianism, and libertarianism, to forge an amorphous ideology which animates a number of far right movements in America, Europe, and Russia. Although obscure, their influence persists in the incarnation of the ‘Alt Right’ movement which has gained new vigor concomitant with the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. Against the Fascist Creep is a much-needed addition to the field of political extremism and will be enjoyed by both academics and the general public.” —George Michael, author of Lone Wolf Terror and the Rise of Leaderless Resistance

“Essential reading for those willing to remain awake to the ways fascist thinking and action continues to raise its ugly head.” —Joe Lowndes, author of From the New Deal to the New Right: Race and Southern Origins of Modern Conservatism

“This important book is essential reading for every social justice activist, a cautionary story of how any of us can be drawn to aspects of the rhetoric and social world of fascism without recognizing it as such. Now, with the rise of Trump and the Alt-Right in the United States, mirroring similar movements in the United Kingdom and Europe, consciousness of fascist creep is more important than ever. Alexander Reid Ross presents a complex history and reality as a gripping narrative.” —Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

“This book is good for smashing cockroaches and fascism, which may appear more similar after a careful reading.” —Arun Gupta, journalist

“Against the Fascist Creep could not come at a better time. Society is trying to understand the kinds of fascist elements we are seeing in the 21st Century, and this book not only tells a detailed history of fascism around the world, breaking down all its forms to an exact science, it does the most important thing that you will not see much of in other books that cover the subject—it shows the reader how they have been and can be fought.” —Daryle Lamong Jenkins, One People’s Project

About this edition

• Publisher: AK Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1849352445
• ISBN 13: 9781849352444
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400