Bibliocracy Episode 12: Joan Braune on Understanding and Countering Fascist Movements

Community of Writers Podcasts

Joan Braune has written a scholarly book which reads to this admirer like a handbook of liberatory insights, a history and a glossary, a philosophy text for beginners, with a provocative analysis at its conclusion. If you think, as did I, you knew or understood the basics of fascism and the far right, the research and writing of Joan Braune will disabuse you, delight you, engage and inspire you. Out from Routledge, her short but singular contribution to the “Studies in Fascism and the Far Right” series develops from, indeed, philosophical study but also personal experience fighting fascists in the Pacific Northwest. The book is titled Understanding and Countering Fascist Movements: From Void to Hope, a helpful title, instructive, and, finally, one of the most empowering books on the subject I have read lately, an intellectual self-defense handbook. Joan Braune is Lecturer in Philosophy at Gonzaga University. She is author an co-editor of various title including two books on Erich Fromm’s critical theory and a forthcoming book, The Ethics of Researching the Far Right.