Giovanni Gentile

The recent rise in Europe of extreme right-wing political parties along with outbreaks of violent nationalist fervor in the former communist bloc has occasioned much speculation on a possible resurgence of fascism. At the polemical level, fascism has become a generic term applied to virtually any form of real or potential violence, while among Marxist and left-wing scholars discredited interpretations of fascism as a "product of late capitalism" are revived. But these formulas disregard the historical and philosophical roots of fascism as it arose in Italy and spread throughout Europe. In Giovanni Gentile, now available in paperback, A. James Gregor returns to those roots by examining the thought of Gentile, Italian Fascism's major theorist. In Gregor's reading, Gentile's fascism was, and remains, an anti-democratic reaction to what was seen to be the domination by advanced industrial democracies of less-developed or status-deprived communities and nations languishing on the margins of the "Great Powers."Sketching in the political background of late nineteenth-century Italy, industrially backward and only recently unified, Gregor shows how Gentile supplied fascism its justificatory rationale as a developmental dictatorship, Gentile's Actualism absorbed many intellectual currents of the early twentieth century and united them in a dynamic rebellion against the perceived hegemonic impostures of imperialism. The individual was called to an idealistic ethic of obedience, work, self-sacrifice, and national community. The first book-length analysis in English of Gentile's thought in over thirty years, this volume is valuable not only as a work of historical scholarship but as a timely warning. While Marxism-Leninism has passed into history, fascism may yet reemerge as an external threat to democratic nations.

-A. James Gregor advances a controversial thesis. The critical reader will recognize this as an impressive work of schoalrship. It is based on original source materials, placed in historical perspective, and subjected to thoughtful examination. Gregor has done what every historian should do: think, and challenge his readers to think for themselves. The result bears witness to intellectual integrity.-

--Richard A Cooper, The Pragmatist

-Gregor's brief account of the life and political philosophy of one of the crucial figures in the history of Italian fascism analyzes Gentile's philosophy of actualism and its impact on Italian intellectual life during the fascist era (1922-43). . . . Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above.-

--Choice

"A. James Gregor advances a controversial thesis. The critical reader will recognize this as an impressive work of schoalrship. It is based on original source materials, placed in historical perspective, and subjected to thoughtful examination. Gregor has done what every historian should do: think, and challenge his readers to think for themselves. The result bears witness to intellectual integrity."

--Richard A Cooper, The Pragmatist

"Gregor's brief account of the life and political philosophy of one of the crucial figures in the history of Italian fascism analyzes Gentile's philosophy of actualism and its impact on Italian intellectual life during the fascist era (1922-43). . . . Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above."

--Choice

"A. James Gregor advances a controversial thesis. The critical reader will recognize this as an impressive work of schoalrship. It is based on original source materials, placed in historical perspective, and subjected to thoughtful examination. Gregor has done what every historian should do: think, and challenge his readers to think for themselves. The result bears witness to intellectual integrity."

--Richard A Cooper, The Pragmatist

"Gregor's brief account of the life and political philosophy of one of the crucial figures in the history of Italian fascism analyzes Gentile's philosophy of actualism and its impact on Italian intellectual life during the fascist era (1922-43). . . . Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above."

--Choice

"Gregor's brief account of the life and political philosophy of one of the crucial figures in the history of Italian fascism analyzes Gentile's philosophy of actualism and its impact on Italian intellectual life during the fascist era (1922-43)....Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above."

- "Choice"

"Gregor's brief account of the life and political philosophy of one of the crucial figures in the history of Italian fascism analyzes Gentile's philosophy of actualism and its impact on Italian intellectual life during the fascist era (1922-43)....Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above."

- "Choice"

A. James Gregor is professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley and adjunct professor at the United States Marine Corps University at Quantico, Virginia. He is the author of Interpretations of Fascism, Phoenix: Fascism in Our Time, and Marxism, China, and Development, all available from Transaction.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.