Bout of Books Day 1: Setting some goals

Today is the official start of my research leave, so I'm mostly reading for my research project this week. This month, I'll be reading works related to early observations and analyses of fascism by leftists and liberals from the 1920s through the early 1930s. My emphasis is on the U.S., but I'm reading books about European parties and thinkers who also influenced U.S. anti-fascists. The first book I'm reading is Enzo Traverso's Marxists and the Jewish Question though I'm currently reading an earleir edition than the one in the link. Also this week, I'm hoping to read some of Ernst Mendel's collection of Trotsky's writing about fascism and early essays from the collection Marxists in the Face of Fascism. Another book on my list is George Seldes, Sawdust Caesar one of the earlier U.S. anti-fascist texts. There's more on the TBR including a couple of anthologies on travellers in the Third Reich, along with the first section of the recent anthology by Christopher Vials and Bill Mullen, The U.S. Antifascism Reader. In the mornings and before bed, I'll be reading little bits of Lucy Foley, The Hunting Party , and when I'm working out, cleaning, or cooking, I'll be listening to Alyssa Cole's triller about gentrification in Bed-Stuy, When No One is Watching. I have no idea how much of this I'll be able to read in a week, but I'll track what I do here for Bout of Books.

Bout of Books 30 Sign-Up

 It's 2021, and I hope to be spending most of this year writing a book, but I'll still be reading, so I decided to sign up for Bout of Books 30, which runs from Jan 4 - 10 this year. I've done this readathon a number of times, but since it often falls during the first week of classes when I'm teaching, I rarely wind up reading a whole lot during the week. This year, I'm on a research leave, so I'll be setting research reading goals for the week and hope that the readathon will motivate me to meet them.

For those that don't know what Bout of Books is... here you go: The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 4th and runs through Sunday, January 10th in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 30 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team by clicking the button below: