The Fascist Revolution: Toward a General Theory of Fascism

by George L. Mosse, Roger Griffin (Introduction)

Overview

The Fascist Revolution is the culmination of George L. Mosse's groundbreaking work on fascism. Originally published posthumously in 1999, the volume covers a broad spectrum of topics related to cultural interpretations of fascism from its origins through the twentieth century. In a series of magisterial turns, Mosse examines fascism's role in the French Revolution, its relationship with nationalism and racism, its use by intellectuals to foment insurrection, and more as a means to define and understand it as a popular phenomenon on its own terms. This new edition features a critical introduction by Roger Griffin, professor emeritus of modern history at Oxford Brookes University, contextualizing Mosse's research as fascism makes a global resurgence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299332945
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	01/04/2022
Series:	The Collected Works of George L. Mosse
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	681,360
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

George L. Mosse (1918-99) was a legendary scholar, teacher, and mentor. A refugee from Nazi Germany, in 1955 he joined the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was both influential and popular. Mosse was an early leader in the study of modern European cultural and intellectual history, the study of fascism, and the history of sexuality and masculinity. Over his career he authored more than two dozen books.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction to the 1999 Edition ix

Critical Introduction Roger Griffin xvii

1 Toward a General Theory of Fascism 3

2 Fascist Aesthetics and Society 39

3 Racism and Nationalism 46

4 Fascism and the French Revolution 57

5 Fascism and the Intellectuals 77

6 The Occult Origins of National Socialism 95

7 Fascism and the Avant-Garde 110

8 Nazi Polemical Theater 125

9 On Homosexuality and French Fascism 139

10 Nazi Aesthetics: Beauty Without Sensuality and the Exhibition of Degenerate Art 145

Notes 157

Index 177

Editorial Reviews

"A classic example of his art. . . . The volume enjoys an integrity rarely found in such collections. . . . Mosse was a unique scholar."--Society

"Clearly delineates the features of fascism which make it distinctive and which must be confronted in order to analyze it accurately."--Journal of Contemporary History

"Mosse's pioneering work has lost none of its original freshness. . . . All those writing on fascism and Nazism today owe this great historian, who was also a warm and generous man, a debt that only increases with the passing of time."--American Historical Review

From the Publisher

Synthesizing historian Mosse's (1918-99) life-long efforts to understand the nature of fascism, contains ten essays originally published between 1961 and 1996. He approaches the movement as a cultural phenomenon, and investigates how it and its adherents saw it and themselves. Among his subjects are fascist aesthetics, the French Revolution, fascism and the Intellectuals, the occult origins of National Socialism, and homosexuality and French fascism. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

...[T]he going [is] a bit tough sometimes for lay readers....[A]s the book continues, the tone becomes more impassioned....Mosse wants to explain the reasons for fascism's appeal....[C]ertain strains of occult belief, a mysticism of blood and soil, contributed....[He] draws a complex set of links among nationalism, anti-Semitism, the cult of the leader and late-19th-century mysticism.
— The New York Times

Richard Bernstein

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 fascism-and, consequently, of 20th-century history. He's 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 analysis-or, 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 fascism's essence. And yet even a cultural approach poses certain inherent difficulties. For, as Mosse and others have pointed out, a paradox lies at the heart of "fascist studies": Intellectuals have chosen to use rational analysis to study and explain a movement that's irrational by its verynature-as well as hostile to the West's humanistic tradition. Hardly an introductory work for the novice, but instead a fundamental summation of a lifetime.

Kirkus Reviews