Fascism: Comparison and Definition
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Book Overview
"An impressive review of reputed fascist movements, at once setting them apart from other authoritarian nationalist organizations and bringing them together within a qualified generic category. Running throughout the volume, and valuable to readers at every level, is a careful critique of the major debates that divide scholars on this most unintelligible 'ism' of them all. Payne precisely defines issues, cites the best literature in the major European languages, and offers with moderation and intelligence his own conclusions on the question."--Gilbert Allardyce, American Historical Review
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0299080641
ISBN13:9780299080648
Release Date:March 1983
Publisher:University of Wisconsin Press
Length:242 Pages
Weight:0.70 lbs.
Dimensions:0.6" x 5.5" x 8.2"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
A comprehensive and objective theoretical analysis
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 26 years ago
The author purports "not to provide another description of fascism but to wrestle with some basic problems of definition and comparison"; that abstract task does, however, involve a good deal of historical exposition. Fascism is defined within the historical context of the Italian Fascist and German National Socialist parties, their historical antecedents and contemporary parallels, and the Mussolini and Hitler regimes. The existence of present-day fascism, in the strict and literal sense, is considered at most an anachronism. The book represents a significant academic acheivement, analysing a vast amount of research material and thoughtfully synthesizing an objective viewpoint. Although "forces that promoted a world historical disaster are hard to view with scientific detachment", the author succeeds in "disengag[ing] this analysis as much as possible from political emotions and overt moralizing." The work does much to clarify and de! fine what is "probably the vaguest of contemporary political terms", rejecting overly simplistic and/or ideologically biased conceptions of fascism.
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