Icon Books scoops Mulhall's 'terrifying and timely' fascism examination

 Icon Books is set to publish Dr Joe Mulhall’s The Global Far Right: Its Rise and Our Future next year. 

Publisher Duncan Heath acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Kay Peddle Literary, for an undisclosed sum. 

In the book, Mulhall examines the roots of both elected and non-elected far-right movements across the globe. The synopsis states he "shows how the transnational ‘alt-right’ has rewritten the handbook of far-right activism, through its use of the Internet and how it poses a violent new threat to democracy".

Mulhall is the senior researcher at the UK’s largest anti-fascism and anti-racism organisation, Hope Not Hate (HNH). He is the author of British Fascism After the Holocaust: From the Birth of Denial to the Notting Hill Riots 1939–1958 (Routledge) and co-author of The International Alternative Right: Fascism for the 20th Century? (Routledge). 

Heath said: "This is a terrifying and timely book. Currently three of the most populous countries in the world – the US, Brazil and India – are led by radical right-wing governments, and the alt-right has used the internet and social media to spread its own messages more widely than ever. Far-right views have become steadily normalised in mainstream politics as a result. We need to understand this shift, because nearly two billion people worldwide now live under radical right governments."

Mulhall said: "To understand the modern far-right threat we have to go beyond one country or even one continent and begin to think globally. Unlike other books on this topic, I take a genuinely international approach. Whether it is the negative effects of globalisation, inequality and neo-liberal economics, western deindustrialisation, fear of immigration and demographic change, or a backlash against Islamist terrorism, there are common themes underlying the rise of the far right in different parts of the world."

The Global Far Right: Its Rise and Our Future will be published in July 2021.