Fascism: a Very Short Introduction

by Kevin Passmore

Paperback

Published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Peter]

The British-born Historian Kevin Passmore wrote Fascism: A Very Short Introduction. I read the 2014 edition, so the book is a little older. The book has illustrations and maps. The book has a section titled “references” (Passmore 157-158). I read the book on Kindle. The book has an index. Passmore’s book is focused on fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany. Passmore has trouble defining fascism. Passmore writes, “in that sense, the concept of fascism is essential to understanding the past: while we may be aware of the impossibility of defining fascism, protagonists believed that the concept was very real, and what they thought fascism was shaped their views and the way groups responded to each other” (Passmore 21). Chapter 5 examines fascism in the 1930s outside of Italy and Germany (Passmore 68-91). Passmore mentions modern European extreme nationalist parties throughout the book, but he refrains from calling them fascist parties for reasons he explains in the book. The book has a chapter about whether fascism has made a comeback in European politics in the early 21st Century (Passmore 92-107). Passmore returns to the idea of the connection between Fascist parties in the 1930s and modern European extreme nationalist parties in the 21st Century in the concluding chapter. The book examines different aspects of Fascist ideology. Fascism: A Very Short Introduction is a well-done but older work on the subject.
Works Cited:
Lindsey, Ellis. 2017, June 2. “Mel Brooks, The Producers and the Ethics of Satire about N@zis.” Channel of Lindsey Ellis. YouTube, 40:45 minutes. Mel Brooks, The Producers, and the Ethics of Satire about N@zis

[Toby]

This book was quite frustrating in that it spent a significant amount of time upfront, and a recurring anxiety throughout, grasping at a concept or even working definition of fascism. It was more an introduction class to fascism studies than a short accessible guide to academic conclusions about fascism. Although, it seems that the unstated but working definition of the author throughout was that fascism is any culturally conservative movement prone to ideological violence and/or inspired directly by Italian fascism. This might be why the book consistently compared it to Nazism as if, without committing to the theory, posits that Nazism is a hyponym of fascism. Both of these might be true but there was so much deliberating at how slippery fascism is as a concept that I didn’t feel it illuminated much and now only want to read another intro guide to get a different angle on it.

[Lilac]

My greatest takeaway was that academia has a limited impact in stemming Fascist proliferation because it only uses language to define a problem rather than approach solutions.

According to this text, Fascism is hard to pin down because of its association with Naziism in WWII. They have differences, yet where they align may have more to do with historical and political alliances than ideological pillars. This book outlines how Fascism is reactionary and how its creep into political spheres occurs.

Scary times to read a solid book.

[Tony Gallwey]

3.75

[Alex]

Smothering and impenetrable