Antifascist Reading List - Books
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
"The work of one who has thought as well as suffered...a disquieting, moving, and thought-provoking book."--The New York Times Book Review
Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It by Shane Burley
"Burley's work gives usthe most thorough dissection of the different tendencies of the modern far-right in clear, jargon-free language." -Truthout
Stakes is High: Life after the American Dream by Mychal Denzel Smith
“Smith’s book is about these damaging fantasies. But it is also about remembering and achieving more productive and revolutionary exercises of the imagination. It begins in dismay and grapples with fear. But it engages this moment with intelligence and courage, and invites its readers to do the same.”―The Washington Post
Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America A Recent History by Kurt Andersen
"This is the one book everyone must read as we figure out how to rebuild our country. With lucid writing and head-snapping insights, Andersen explores how the Right and big business, with unabashed greed, deliberately reengineered our economy. To fix that will require understanding the roots of the problem...A Triumph."
--Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs
Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLean
"Democracy in Chains is the missing chapter: a Key to understanding the politics of the past half century." --The Guardian
1984 by George Orwell
Stop alluding to it, or using it as an adjective, and read it., or read it again.
Why Didn't We Riot? A Black Man in Trumpland by Issac J. Bailey
"A masterful storyteller...Bailey pulls no punches, and he debunks the myth that white working class 'economic angst'--rather than racism and white supremacy--propelled Trump into office...Brilliant, searing, and surprisingly vulnerable." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Democracy in One Book or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesn't, and Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You Think by David Litt
"...by turns funny and illuminating. Litt combines his trademark humore and witty writing with an urgent call to fix American democracy. It's a tragicomedy that makes you a better citizen while you laugh and shake your head in disbelief at our broken system." --Brian Klass, columnist for The Washngton Post
The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
"The problem is not police training, police diversity, or police metyhods. The problem is the dramatic and unprecendented expansion and intensity of policing in the last forty years, a fundamental shift in the role of police in society. The problem is policing itself."
Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America by Michael Eric Dyson
"...one of the nation's most thoughtful and critical thinkers on social inequality and the demands of justice. Long Time Coming, his latest formidable, compelling book, has much to offer on our nation's crucial need for racial reckoning, and the way forward." --Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
On Tyranny is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come. "Mr. Snyder is a rising public intellectual unafraid to make bold connections between past and present." —The New York Times
Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino
“A judicious and riveting new history…The publication of a book like Zucchino’s, [is] a sign that, however late and reluctantly, America is becoming conscious of the racial violence that insured white supremacy after Reconstruction.”―New Yorker
The Third Reconstruction: How a Moral Movement Is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear by William J. Barber II and Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove
“William Barber is the closest person we have to Martin Luther King, Jr. in our midst. His life and witness is shot through with spiritual maturity, subversive memory, and personal integrity. This book lays bare his prophetic vision, historical analysis, and courageous praxis.”—Cornel West, author of Black Prophetic Fire