Promotional Information

This brilliant comparative study of the rise of fascism in Italy, Spain, and Romania brings Tocqueville and Gramsci into a novel and surprising conversation. It will change the way you think about civil society, fascism, and democracy. -- William Sewell, the University of Chicago Make no mistake, this is much more than comparative fascisms. Dylan Riley not only rethinks and meshes the legacies of Tocqueville, Arendt and Gramsci; he sobers us up to the actual history of civil society and democratization in continental Europe. This theoretical lesson seems still gravely relevant elsewhere in the world today. -- Georgi Derluguian, author of Bourdieu's Secret Admirer in the Caucasus: A World-Systems Biography

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
1. Civil Society and Fascism in Interwar Europe
2. Party Fascism: Italy, 1870–1938
3. Traditionalist Fascism: Spain, 1876–1945
4. Statist Fascism: Romania, 1881–1940
5. Considering Alternatives
6. Rethinking Civil Society and Fascism
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Dylan Riley is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews

Recommended. Choice Riley's account of the civic foundations of fascism succeeds not only in throwing new light on old questions, but also in redefining the theoretical parameters for understanding fascism. It will change the way we think about fascism in the future. -- Max Whyte American Journal of Sociology This rather paradoxical book by Dylan Riley is both brilliant and courageous. -- Gian Luca Podesta Contemporary Sociology Riley's comparative historical analysis of fascism in Italy, Spain, and Romania is a major and original contribution to the understanding of the origins of fascism, its varieties, and its relationship to civil society development. -- Cornel Ban Review of Politics This is a book to be taken seriously. -- Jeffrey Kopstein Perspectives on Politics The most original and provocative new analysis of the preconditions of Fascism that has appeared in years, together with an often persuasive interpretation of the development and failures of civil society. -- Stanley G. Payne International History Review Riley's analysis provides food for thought. -- David A. Messenger American Historical Review Dylan Riley's intelligent study succeeds in opening fresh perspectives... His book ought to be read by everyone interested in facism. -- Robert O. Paxton New Left Review