"The Search for Neofascism is a study of the informal logic that has governed the half-century of academic writing devoted to what has been generally identified as "neofascism," together with a careful assessment of those political movements and regimes considered the proper objects of inquiry. The intent of the study is both pedagogical and cautionary."--BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

This is an important book with the capacity to change minds, or at least to sharpen thought and debate, about a concept that has been much in the news. An expert on both fascist and Marxist political systems, Gregor (Univ. of California, Berkeley) laments the way the term "fascism" and its variants (e.g., "Islamofascism") have been bandied about in scholarly debates, political speeches, and the popular media. "Neo-fascist" has become a term of opprobrium used to describe virtually any party, movement, or regime that exhibits dictatorial, oppressive, brutal, reactionary, or xenophobic tendencies. Gregor believes this is woefully ahistorical and imprecise, and urges employing Mussolini's Italy as the "classificatory norm." In his analysis, fascism is a response to late industrial development, spawned by perceived humiliation; it exhibits "reactive nationalism" and mass mobilization under a single party. Gregor argues fascism can be a phenomenon of either the political Right or Left, locating its closest modern incarnation in neither Islamic nor Hindu fundamentalism but in post-Maoist China. Students of comparative politics and political theory will find in this book an impassioned, if controversial, call for conceptual clarity--and one having great practical significance for the realm of foreign affairs. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. Upper-division Undergraduates; Graduate Students; Researchers/Faculty. Reviewed by S. K. Hinchman. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

A. James Gregor is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.