How to Read Like an Anti-Fascist
Storytelling and Narrative Literacy for Young People
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On the urgent need to promote critical reading skills amidst rising authoritarianism
Children’s author Philip Pullman famously said that “There are some themes, some subjects, too large for adult fiction; they can only be dealt with adequately in a children’s book.” While the recent rise of fascist ideology in the United States might seem a subject too large and adult to be dealt with in literature for children or teens, Annette Wannamaker proposes in How to Read Like an Anti-Fascist that there are books aimed at future generations which critique and counter fascist propaganda and mythmaking.
Works of literature can reflect fascist ideology and promote it as well, but Wannamaker proposes that some books also offer tools for understanding it. Books written for beginners can introduce readers to complex concepts, break big ideas into manageable parts, and teach readers how to read the world outside of the book. Antifascist books are ones that analyze fascistic rhetoric and storytelling, educate about America’s long history of authoritarianism, and highlight various facets of fascism such as scapegoating others and reasserting patriarchal power.
From “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and the tales of Superman to Mildred Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, the 1619 Project and contemporary works such as All Boys Aren’t Blue and Donald Builds the Wall, Wannamaker shows how the ethos of authoritarianism is characterized by a strict hierarchy that places children at its very bottom. In doing so, she argues convincingly that books written for young people can provide a particular view from the bottom, a perspective well-suited to interrogating systems of power.
Concerned about fascism’s rising popularity in the United States? How to Read Like an Antifascist can help you fight back. While historicizing the present, Wannamaker shows us how critical reading can counter the seductions of authoritarian narratives and, in so doing, how we can fight the accelerating assaults on public education, history, and civil rights. Read it. And bring a copy to your next school board meeting.—Philip Nel, author of Was the Cat in the Hat Black?
Responding to authoritarian tendencies in modern American politics, How to Read Like an Anti-Fascist shares a measured perspective on the deeper consequences of story structures.—Foreword Reviews
Preface: Fascism, Resistance, and the Confounding Case of Harry Potter | ix
Introduction: American Neofascism, the Child, and Children’s Literature | 1
1 Stories about Stories: Reading Fascistic Rhetoric | 31
2 The Order of Story | 65
3 Fascism Is the Patriarchy | 86
4 From Margin to Center: An(Other) Point of View | 111
Conclusion: The Ends of Story | 135
Acknowledgments | 153
Notes | 155
Index | 183
