Seventy-five years ago, George Orwell complained that there was no accepted definition of fascism, lamenting that “we shall not get one — not yet, anyway.” In the media, the blogosphere, and in public commentary, little has changed. But for those intrigued and infuriated by the word, this book brings welcome news as it takes stock of the confusion surrounding the term before introducing the succinct but powerful working definition that now serves as the premise of the flourishing international and multilingual field of comparative fascism. This definition is then applied to providing a survey of the ‘fascist era,’ showing how it helps explain the initial success of Fascism and horrific destructive power unleashed by the Third Reich, even while so many movements withered on the vine or became Nazi puppets.