As I mentioned in an earlier post, Antifa’s attempt to intimidate a bookstore gave a significant sales boost to Andy Ngo’s Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy. I probably wouldn’t have bought the book if it weren’t for that. If I’d seen it on a bookstore shelf, I would have noticed the endorsements by Tucker Carlson on the front and back covers and skipped over it.

It’s a book that I have to treat with caution. It’s hard to find any trustworthy information about Antifa, which isn’t a formal organization at the national level. Mainstream news seems to lie more about Antifa than about any other person or organization, claiming it’s an “anti-fascist” group. Every time I hear reliable reports about it, it’s trying to suppress the speech of others by tactics ranging from shouting down speakers to assault. That’s more fascist than anti-fascist. But just a few pages into the book, I started seeing indications that I should be cautious with Ngo too.

At the same time, I can’t dismiss him just because I disagree with some of his conclusions. I need to look at whether his research is reliable, he’s presenting all the important facts, he’s not using misleading words, he isn’t overestimating the movement’s importance, etc. He’s been the target of threats and physical assaults for his work on Antifa, and it’s hard for anyone to stay objective under such pressure.
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