The Fascist Revolution : Toward a General Theory of Fascism
A brief yet invaluable reassessment, from one of our most insightful and profound thinkers on the nature of fascism. Co-editor of the Journal of Contemporary History and author of nearly two dozen books (e.g., Fallen Soldiers: Replacing the Memory  of the World Wars, 1990), Mosse has helped to shape our contemporary understanding of fascismand, consequently, of 20th-century history. Hes trained dozens of practicing historians, leaving the field indelibly altered. The essays collected here have all  appeared previously in academic journals and scholarly volumes. In them Mosse examines facets of fascism. (Following the usual convention, ``fascism'' refers to the generic phenomenon, while ``Fascism'' alludes to the Italian variant.) His topics include  fascist aesthetics, theater, and the avant-garde; fascism and the French Revolution; the nexus between fascism, nationalism, and racism; fascism and the role of intellectuals; fascism (or in this case, specifically National Socialism) and the occult; and  fascism and homosexuality. The author opens his introduction by acknowledging the changing interpretations of fascism over the last five decades. His own method might be described as cultural analysisor, to borrow a term from Clifford Geertz and cultural  anthropology, ``thick description.'' To be sure, class analysis, long favored by many Marxist and leftist historians, fails to fully capture fascisms essence. And yet even a cultural approach poses certain inherent difficulties. For, as Mosse and others h ave pointed out, a paradox lies at the heart of ``fascist studies'': Intellectuals have chosen to use rational analysis to study and explain a movement thats irrational by its very natureas well as hostile to the Wests humanistic tradition. Hardly an intr oductory work for the novice, but instead a fundamental summation of a lifetime.   --Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.