Publisher's Synopsis
What is fascism and why has this form of reactionary mass politics continued to attract adherents? In this new book, David Renton, a specialist on fascism and anti-fascism, traces the rise of European fascism in the inter-war years. Key issues such as the condition of Weimar Germany, the character of British fascism, the Battle of Cable Street and the early life of Adolf Hitler are reconsidered in the light of new research. Equally important, the author considers the work of inter-war anti-fascists, men like Albert Einstein, and the wide range of anti-fascist artists whose "degenerate art" was banned by the Nazis, who were nonetheless fascinated by it. The post-war American Nazi party and its extraordinary leader George Lincoln Rockwell is also considered, through it grew out of the very different circumstances of the Cold War.;Recent neo-fascism in Europe and the former Soviet states is covered, along with the historical links between fascism, nationalism and identity.;For the general reader who wants to follow the history of fascist parties and the opposition to them, this is an ideal book. The academic literature on fascism is very large but there is no reliable and accurate general history which looks broadly at fascism in Europe and beyond and which places this form of political violence in the context of the opposition to it.
