Mason's 'original, challenging' fascism history to Allen Lane

Allen Lane will publish Paul Mason's How to Stop Fascism, an "original and challenging history of fascism and guide to resisting it".

Tom Penn, publishing director at Penguin Press, acquired world English-language rights from Matthew Hamilton at The Hamilton Agency. Allen Lane will publish the title in spring 2021. 

How to Stop Fascism will explore the history of the original fascist movements in the 1920s and '30s, and the conditions that brought them to power. Mason aims to bring new insights about the similarities with the current political climate, and will argue that in order to resist the rise of violent, far-right mass movements, society must first understand fascism as a generalised and recurrent symptom of capitalist failure, not a finished historical fact.

Mason commented: “We're living at the hinge of history. If Trump loses office, there will be a far-right insurrectionary movement in the US, whose echoes will challenge every advanced democracy. Anyone who thought right-wing populist parties were a firewall against real fascism is mistaken: it's feeding off the same contagious irrationalism as in the 1930s, with cyberspace as the accelerator. We thought teaching people the facts about fascism would stop it happening again. It turns out the truth is not enough.”

Penn said: "How to Stop Fascism shines a light on the phenomenon of the new far-right, and the social and economic conditions that have fuelled its rise. A pyrotechnic combination of history, reportage and call to arms, it’s characteristic Paul Mason: original, challenging, thought-provoking. We’re much looking forward to working with Paul on an exceptionally important and timely book."

Mason is a journalist and broadcaster. He previously worked as the economics editor of BBC's "Newsnight" and "Channel 4 News". Allen Lane published Mason's Clear Bright Future in 2019. 

Photo credit: Juergen Bauer