This is fairly damning, to be honest. The book is pretty much Nazi "fan fiction" by those familiar with it. While this might not be enough for others there is more. It does seem that the Tekumel Foundation has known about this, and kept it quiet, for years. Now you might ask how is a "Nazi fan fiction" any different than say Philip K. Dick's "Man in the High Castle?" I guess the back cover of the book tells the whole story. It was written as fulfillment fantasy of a group of S.S. officers' descendants "correcting the the wrongs" of the end of W.W. II.
Ok that is pretty bad. Then to make matters worse, Prof. Barker sat on the board of editors for anti-Sementic, Holocaust-denial journal, "The Journal of Historical Review," as psuedo-scientific and psuedo-academic journal. It has been described as anti-Sementic by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Journal is much like others of it's ilk; not peer-reviewed, pushing an agenda. There was some uncertainty online about who this particular "Philip Barker, Ph.D." was, but honestly combined with the publication of the other book I don't feel that he gets any benefit of the doubt.
What does that mean for me?
Well. Everyone has to draw their own lines somewhere. Like Lovecraft, Orson Scott Card, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and J.K. Rolwing, Barker has left a pretty dark mark on his legacy.
For me, Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism are steps way too far.
There is no evidence of this, as far as I can tell, within the pages of Tékumel. But the shine on the books is gone for me. I know he is dead and won't benefit from anything I do or don't do. I am not looking to boycott or raise a campaign about it, plenty of others will do that. It is just sad of course that such an obviously brilliant man also has such vile and repugnant beliefs.
Anyway, here are the relevant links. No I am not linking to the books. You can find them on your own.