I’m interrupting my book promotion for something more important.

The story of Dr. Mark Bray–a respected historian of fascism and anti-fascism at Rutgers–has broken beyond academic circles. See this NYT article for a good breakdown.

But to summarize, Bray has been targeted by Turning Point USA and other groups for his scholarship on anti-fascism. For those in the back, Bray is not a member of antifa. As he told the Times, “I’ve never been part of an antifa group, and I’m not currently. There’s an effort underway to paint me as someone who is doing the things that I’ve researched, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Accusations that he supports “antifa” just because he studies the history of anti-fascist movements are as ridiculous as assertions that cancer researchers support cancer. (Also, antifa in the U.S. isn’t a group or even movement. Safe for, like, the crazy notion of being “antifascist,” like say, the Americans who stormed the Omaha Beach; they were antifascists).

The death threats against him and his family have gotten so bad that he has decided to temporarily move to Spain–one of the countries that Bray studies because it was home to fascist dictatorships (Franco) and thus anti-fascist movements working to free Spain from said dictatorships.

I can’t imagine what Bray and his family is going through. (Full disclosure: I don’t know Bray personally but have several colleagues/friends who know and love him and his family). I’m very glad and heartened to see so many coming to his defense, and the defense of all who study the past and present, in hopes we can have a better future.

You can donate here to help him and his family cover the post of their expensive relocation.

But as a historian hoping that people will buy my book (and read it!), I know that Bray would certainly appreciate others buying his books–an act of solidarity and an act of self-education!

So please buy Bray’s books. He’s got lots, including the bestseller Antifa: The Antifascist Handbook, the book that those attacking Bray have not bothered to read or they would recognize that it is not promoting antifa but studying the movements historically and in the present.

But Bray’s more recent book, The Anarchist Inquisition: Assassins, Activists, and Martyrs in Spain and France (1891–1909), is the book I recommend.

Thanks, Dr. Bray, for your courage during this trying time.