When The Birth of Fascist Ideology was first published in 1989 in
France and in 1993 in Italy, it aroused a storm of response, both
positive and negative. In Sternhell's view, fascism was much more than
an episode in the history of Italy. He argues here that it possessed a
coherent ideology with deep roots in European civilization. Long before
fascism became a political force, he maintains, it was a major cultural
phenomenon.