Many of the foremost experts in the study of European fascism unite to provide a contemporary analysis of the theories and historiography of fascism. Essays discuss the most recent debates on the subject and how changes in the social sciences over the past forty years have impacted on the study of fascism from various perspectives.

Many of the foremost experts in the study of European fascism unite to provide a contemporary analysis of the theories and historiography of fascism. Essays discuss the most recent debates on the subject and how changes in the social sciences over the past forty years have impacted on the study of fascism from various perspectives.

List of Illustrations Foreword; S.G.Payne Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction: Fascism and the other '-isms'; A.Costa Pinto PART I: FASCISM AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES Decomposition and Recomposition of Theories: How to Arrive at Useful Ideas Explaining Fascism; S.U.Larsen Desperately Seeking a 'Generic Fascism': Some Discordant Thoughts on the Academic Recycling of Indigenous Categories; M.Dobry Fascism and Culture: A Mosse-Centric Meta-Narrative of how Fascist Studies Reinvented the Wheel; R.Griffin PART II: NEW APPROACHES Theories of Fascism: A Critique from the Perspective of Women's and Gender History; K.Passmore Fascism and Religion; J.Pollard Ideology, Propaganda, Violence and the Rise of Fascism; R.Eatwell Political Violence and Institutional Crisis in Interwar Southern Europe; G.Albanese Ruling Elites, Political Institutions and Decision-Making in Fascist-Era Dictatorships: Comparative Perspectives; A.Costa Pinto Fascism, 'Licence' and Genocide: from the Chimera of Rebirth to the Authorization of Mass Murder; A.Kallis Concluding Remarks; A.Lyttelton Index