"The best scholarly description of European Fascism available."-- American Historical Review "Professor Carsten surveys the major and minor European fascist groups which flourished between the world wars, including such movements as were active in Romania, Austria, Hungary, Finland, Britain, and Belgium. In doing so, he has produced a useful, if brief, addition to the growing number of studies on this subject."-- The Historian "A short, responsible survey of how fascism came to power in Italy and Germany, with some valuable comparative data on fascist movements in other European countries."-- Foreign Affairs "The core of this factual, but extremely readable book consists of an account of Italian fascism up to 1929 and Nazism up to 1934."-- International Review of Social History "To date, this is the best study on the origins of fascism . . . . "-- Library Journal

FROM THE AMAZON "This is a (maybe even THE) classic work about the revolutionary events in Central Europe at the end of the First World War. Centred mainly in Germany and Austria, it also covers the upheavals in the some of the Hapsburg's and Hohenzollern's lands, namely Poland, Hungary, and Bohemia. The extraordinarily complex and troubled history of that period of crumbling age old institutions and venerable empires certainly have here a panoramic overview deserving repeated readings. Indispensable in order to understand the origins of the dramatic years ahead culminating in an even more terrible World War...." "This is the best study in the revolutionary events of 1918–1919 in Austria, Germany and Hungary. I cannot reccommend it highly enough...."