Fascism

A wide-ranging history of the term fascism, what it has meant in the past, and what it means today. The rise of political figures like the United States Donald Trump, Hungarys Viktor Orbn, Italys Giorgia Meloni, and Argentinas Javier Milei has spurred debates on the meaning of the term fascist and when and whether it is appropriate to use it. The landmark study Fascism: The History of a Word takes this debate further by tackling its most fundamental questions: how did the terms fascism and fascist come to be in the first place?; how and in what circumstances have they been used?; how can they be understood today?; and what are the advantages (or disadvantages) of using fascism to make sense of interwar authoritarianism as well as todays predicament? Exploring the writings and deeds of political leaders, activists, artists, authors, and philosophers, Federico Marcon traces the history of the terms use (and usefulness) in relation to Mussolinis political regime, antifascist resistance, and the quest of postwar historians to develop a definition of a fascist minimum. This investigation of the semiotics of fascism also aims to inquire about peoples voluntary renunciation of the modern emancipatory ideals of freedom, equality, and solidarity.