Reflections on Italian Fascism

An Interview with Antonio Messina

A. James Gregor

ISBN 978-3-8325-4182-8
134 pages, year of publication: 2016
price: 16.00 €

Are we witnessing the return of fascism? The recent shift to the political right across the globe has prompted many to announce the renewed rise of a political ideology that most thought overcome with World War II. Jihadists, anti-Jihadists, perpetrators of isolated acts of terrorism, politicians using hate-speech — suddenly all of these are frequently and indiscriminately labelled as 'fascist' by the media and in public discourse. 'Fascism' has become an inextricable part of our everyday vocabulary, and in the process has been reduced to an all but entirely emotive term with little, if any, substance.

In this timely, much-needed intervention, one of the world's leading experts on fascism disentangles the confusion this misuse causes. Retracing the sometimes obscure passage of fascism from one time to another, A. James Gregor reclaims the term and shows how it has shaped the global political landscape over more than half a century. Captivating, informative, and urgent, Gregor's insightful account helps to clarify the history of radical politics in the last 60 years.

About the author: A. James Gregor is Professor emeritus of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of thirty-one books on political doctrine and intellectual history. He was a graduate, with Distinction in History, of Columbia University in New York; an Adjunct Lecturer for the Marine Corps University in Quantico; a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel; and H. L. Oppenheimer Professor at the Marine Corps University, Quantico, Virginia. He has testified before both Houses of the United States Congress. He was awarded a Knighthood in the Order of Merit by the Republic of Italy.