Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy by Andy Ngo, Center Street, 2021, ISBN: 978-1546059585
Andy Ngo is an independent journalist in Canada who was among the first reporters to recognize and report on the self-titled group Antifa (short for “anti-fascist”) that has organized violent protests, causing physical harm and property damage, in Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and other locations since 2016. Ngo provided firsthand reporting on Antifa’s leadership, organization, funding, planning, communication, protests, and riots for The Millennial, The Spectator, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. He then gained undercover access to the group’s recruiting, training, and planning meetings, which he wrote about in Unmasked, exposing the movement's Marxist and anarchist foundations, along with its desire to replace American democracy with socialism. Ngo was physically assaulted and hospitalized by Antifa members while reporting on the group's activities. Prior to his book’s release, Antifa vandalized and threatened to burn bookstores in Portland that agreed to sell Unmasked. The threats succeeded in getting Ngo's book pulled from shelves in some locations.
Unmasked is packed with firsthand reporting supported by government documents, publicly available records, Antifa’s internal and external communication, and articles from other news agencies. It is well-written and accessible, beginning with Ngo’s experience as a second-generation immigrant and the influence that experience had on his choice to cover Antifa regardless of the danger. That decision was further influenced by what he witnessed firsthand as mainstream media outlets' refusal to cover or even acknowledge Antifa's actions. On the rare occasions a media outlet acknowledged Antifa's actions or close ties to the Black Lives Matter organization, it described protests that included violence, looting, arson, and attacks on police as "mostly peaceful protests," which contradicted what he and others witnessed.
Unmasked is an especially relevant choice for college students in Minnesota, as it begins with protests in Minneapolis and St. Paul after George Floyd died during an arrest by Minneapolis officers. It then traces how the protests were closely tied to Antifa’s actions in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, which have continued to the current date.
After establishing context in the book's introduction, Ngo uses chronological narrative in tracing Antifa’s roots to the German communist movement in pre-World War II Europe, its transfer to America through 1960s Anti-Vietnam War and Black Panther protests, its establishment and spread of Marxist ideology through America's academic institutions, and its current ties to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) organization. Along the way, Ngo examines Antifa’s funding, organizational structure, communication lines, influence on politicians (e.g., having Vice President Kamala Harris advocate for the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which Antifa used to bail its members out of jail), and its hold over many of America's largest news media organizations.
Ngo's claim that a deeply rooted, well funded, slickly organized movement has been working to replace American democracy with socialism align with reporting by American Intelligence officer Rebekah Koffler in her book Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Destroy America (Regnery Gateway, 2021, ISBN: 978-1684510030) . Born in the USSR and steeped in the Soviet culture that shaped Vladamir Putin, Koffler moved to the U.S. as a girl and used her expertise as an adult to combat Russian espionage. She details Russia's exploitation of groups like Antifa and BLM to divide America, turn citizens against each other, stir chaos, and promote socialism through election interference supported by social media, news organizations, the public education system, and academia .
Unmasked is a valuable resource for balancing major media outlets' narratives, which have been hijacked by corporate consolidation and political interest groups. As a Canadian who works on both sides of the border, Ngo pairs an outsider's neutrality with an insider's access to information in providing full portrait of efforts to break American democracy. Americans need exposure to a reporter who provides facts without falling prey to spin from the political left or right. Ngo offers Americans an opportunity to get facts and compare his account with domestic outlets' coverage of the same events so they can discern the truth for themselves. Unmasked is a useful tool for classroom discussions and lessons that encourage students to practice critical thinking, narrative analysis, and information literacy. I would like to use it in my courses, but its lengthy chapters and chronological narrative make it almost impossible to incorporate without assigning the entire book. As valuable as that would be for students and American society, the composition and journalism courses I teach don't allot enough time for assigning the whole book. I might use it as an example of excellent research and storytelling in my research writing class.