Book description
Fascism was the major political invention of the twentieth century
and the source of much of its pain. How can we try to comprehend its
allure and its horror? Is it a philosophy, a movement, an aesthetic
experience? What makes states and nations become fascist?
Acclaimed historian Robert O. Paxton shows that in order to
understand fascism we must look at it in action - at what it did, as
much as what it said it was about. He explores its falsehoods and
common threads; the social and political base that allowed it to
prosper; its leaders and internal struggles; how it manifested itself
differently in each country - France, Britain, the low countries,
Eastern Europe, even Latin America as well as Italy and Germany; how
fascists viewed the Holocaust; and, finally, whether fascism is still
possible in today's world.
Offering a bold new interpretation of the fascist phenomenon, this
groundbreaking book will overturn our understanding of
twentieth-century history.
Robert O. Paxton is Mellon Professor Emeritus of the Social Sciences
at Columbia University. His other books include Vichy France, Parades
and Politics at Vichy, Europe in the Twentieth Century, and French
Peasant Fascism. He lives in New York City.
