Politics & symbols Book

This book is definitely not a light read, but in an age where right-wing populism is on the rise in the shape of Trumps and Le Pens, this book provides an excellent and detailed overview of the underlying material history of fascism. How Mussolini and Hitler went from newspaper editor and rejected paint artist to rulers of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The book closely examins how they were able to get financial backing, to overcome the existing socialist organizations, to construct an ideology which allowed them to obtain a mass base, how they came to power and cemented the dictatorship, and finally their economic policies once they were in power. Full of lessons to learn and extremely well sourced, this book is a recommended in this time.