1 'A and not A': what is fascism?; 2 Fascism before fascism?; 3 Italy: 'making history with the fist'; 4 Germany: the racial state; 5 The diffusion of fascism; 6 Phoenix from the ashes?; 7 Fascism, nation, and race; 8 Fascism, women, and gender; 9 Fascism and class; 10 Fascism and us; Further reading; index

Dr Kevin Passmore is a Reader in History at Cardiff University. His The Right in the Third Republic was published by OUP in November 2012. He has continued to publish widely on fascism since publication of the VSI in 2002, but has also written on the history of the social sciences and historical writing.

What is fascism? Is it revolutionary? Or is it reactionary? Can it be both?
Fascism is notoriously hard to define. How do we make sense of an ideology that appeals to streetfighters and intellectuals alike? That is overtly macho in style, yet attracts many women? That calls for a return to tradition while maintaining a fascination with technology? And that preaches violence in the name of an ordered society?
In the new edition of this Very Short Introduction, Kevin Passmore brilliantly unravels the paradoxes of one of the most important phenomena in the modern world--tracing its origins in the intellectual, political, and social crises of the late nineteenth century, the rise of fascism following World War I, including fascist regimes in Italy and Germany, and the fortunes of 'failed' fascist movements in Eastern Europe, Spain, and the Americas. He also considers fascism in culture, the new interest in transnational research, and the progress of the far right since 2002.
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