What Is Fascism?: On the Institutionalization of Ideology (The Collected Works of George L. Mosse)

In 1963, nearly two decades after the end of the most destructive war in human history, George L.Mosse assembled a group of interdisciplinary scholars from diverse backgrounds to answer a seemingly simple question: What is fascism?The landmark seminar that followed, held at Stanford University, came to define the intellectual conversation about European fascism throughout the postwar era.Mosse strove to better understand the legacy of fascism by debating its origins-often contentiously-with the sharpest minds of his generation. In this volume, which collects Mosse’s lectures as well as his peers’ responses, Mosse and his colleagues wrestle with fascism’s origins and impact.The straightforward question that launched the seminar quickly expands to deeper debates.What are the intellectual foundations of right-wing populist political movements?How had this particular movement risen to power so quickly and then left so much devastation in its wake?Were charismatic leaders like Hitler and Mu