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Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook by Mark Bray, Melville House Publishing, Brooklyn and London, 2017. $16.99. www.mhphbooks.com, ISBN: 978-1-61219-703-6
Against the Fascist Creep by Alexander Reid Ross, AK Press, Chico, Oakland, Edinburg, Baltimore, 2017. $16.95. www.AKpress.org, ISBN: 978-1-84935-244-4 Reviewed by Michael Novick, Anti-Racist Action-Los Angeles/People Against Racist Terror (ARA-LA/PART)
These two recent books are essential reading and complement each other well. Against the Fascist Creep chronicles the history and currency of fascist infiltration into and absorption of other political elements, including the left, of various societies, including the US. It is particularly strong about Europe, and about the permutations of fascist ideology and organization in the period after the World War II defeat of official fascism in power in Germany and Italy. It is also up-to-the-minute - to the time of its publication - about the varying strains of neo-fascism and white nationalism seeking legitimacy through the Trump campaign and presidency.
Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, written more swiftly and at least partly subsequent to Creep, is not as comprehensive but covers a great deal of the same history focusing on opposition to fascism, concentrating on the interwar period between World Wars I and II, and...