Reading list

Understanding the Enemy: Verso Student Reading on the Far Right

Books on authoritarianism, fascism and the far-right from across 50 years of radical publishing.

Verso Books22 August 2023

Understanding the Enemy: Verso Student Reading on the Far Right

There has been an unmistakable rise in far right politics across the world, with right wing movements gaining a political hold across the global north and south. Are far right movements an inescapable feature of capitalism?

These readings bring together reflections on past fascist movements as well the rise of the new right. 

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See all our recommended Student Reading here.

 

The Authoritarian Personality

The Authoritarian Personality

by Theodor Adorno

What makes a fascist? Are there character traits that make someone more likely to vote for the far right? The Authoritarian Personality, written in the shadow of Fascism and the Holocaust, looked t...
Prophets of Deceit

Prophets of Deceit

by Norbert Guterman and Leo Lowenthal

Foreword by Max Horkheimer and Herbert Marcuse

Introduction by Alberto Toscano

A classic book that analyzes and defines media appeals specific to American pro-fascist and anti-Semite agitators of the 1940s, such as the application of psychosocial manipulation for political en...
Minima Moralia

Minima Moralia

by Theodor Adorno

Translated by Edmund F.N. Jephcott

Written between 1944 and 1947, Minima Moralia is a collection of rich, lucid aphorisms and essays about life in modern capitalist society. Adorno casts his penetrating eye across society in mid-cen...
The Civic Foundations of Fascism in Europe

The Civic Foundations of Fascism in Europe

by Dylan Riley

Drawing on a Gramscian theoretical perspective and developing a systematic comparative approach, The Civic Foundations of Fascism in Europe challenges the received Tocquevillian consensus on author...
Dialectic of Enlightenment

Dialectic of Enlightenment

by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer

Contributions by John Cumming

Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer are the leading figures of the Frankfurt School and this book is their magnum opus. Dialectic of Enlightenment is one of the most celebrated works of modern social...
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Towards a New Manifesto

Towards a New Manifesto

by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer

Translated by Rodney Livingstone

Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer wrote the central text of “critical theory”, Dialectic of Enlightenment, a measured critique of the Enlightenment reason that, they argued, had resulted in fascism...
Fascism and Dictatorship

Fascism and Dictatorship

by Nicos Poulantzas

The resurgence of the far right across Europe and the emergence of the “alt-right” in the US have put the question of fascism urgently back on the agenda. For those trying to understand these forms...
Paperback

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The Notion of Authority

The Notion of Authority

by Alexandre Kojève

Translated by Hager Weslati

In The Notion of Authority, written in the 1940s in Nazi-occupied France, Alexandre Kojève uncovers the conceptual premises of four primary models of authority, examining the practical application ...
The New Faces of Fascism

The New Faces of Fascism

by Enzo Traverso

What does Fascism mean at the beginning of the twenty-first century? When we pronounce this word, our memory goes back to the years between the two world wars and envisions a dark landscape of viol...
Ruling the Void

Ruling the Void

by Peter Mair

Introduction by Chris Bickerton

The age of party democracy has passed, argues Peter Mair in Ruling the Void. The major parties have become so disconnected from society that they no longer seem capable of sustaining democracy in i...
The New Populism

The New Populism

by Marco Revelli

The word ‘populism’ has come to cover all manner of sins. Yet despite the prevalence of its use, it is often difficult to understand what connects its various supposed expressions. From Syriza to T...
Fire and Blood

Fire and Blood

by Enzo Traverso

Translated by David Fernbach

Fire and Blood looks at the European crisis of the two world wars as a single historical sequence: the age of the European Civil War (1914–1945). Its overture was played out in the trenches of the ...
Hatred of Democracy

Hatred of Democracy

by Jacques Rancière

Translated by Steve Corcoran

In this vehement defence of democracy, Jacques Rancière explodes the complacency of Western politicians who pride themselves as the defenders of political freedom. As America and its allies use t...
For a Left Populism

For a Left Populism

by Chantal Mouffe

We are seeing the rise of a populist moment around the world on both the left and the right. Movements like Bernie Sander, Jeremy Corbyn, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have emerged in the midst of the ...
Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire

Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire

by Deepa Kumar

In this incisive account, leading scholar of Islamophobia Deepa Kumar traces the history of anti-Muslim racism from the early modern era to the “War on Terror.” Importantly, Kumar contends that Isl...
Bodies Under Siege

Bodies Under Siege

by Sian Norris

Think today's anti-abortion ideas are rooted in religious prohibitions or arguments about where life begins? Wrong: today's anti-abortion movements is largely financed and planned by far-right extr...
The Spoils of War

The Spoils of War

by Andrew Cockburn

Fully updated from the original edition. As the retreat from Kabul shows, America goes to war not to bring democracy, or glory, but in the pursuit of profit. In The Spoils of War, leading Washingto...
Ruling the Void

Ruling the Void

by Peter Mair

Introduction by Chris Bickerton

The age of party democracy has passed, argues Peter Mair in Ruling the Void. The major parties have become so disconnected from society that they no longer seem capable of sustaining democracy in i...
The New Faces of Fascism

The New Faces of Fascism

by Enzo Traverso

What does Fascism mean at the beginning of the twenty-first century? When we pronounce this word, our memory goes back to the years between the two world wars and envisions a dark landscape of viol...
The New Populism

The New Populism

by Marco Revelli

The word ‘populism’ has come to cover all manner of sins. Yet despite the prevalence of its use, it is often difficult to understand what connects its various supposed expressions. From Syriza to T...
Fire and Blood

Fire and Blood

by Enzo Traverso

Translated by David Fernbach

Fire and Blood looks at the European crisis of the two world wars as a single historical sequence: the age of the European Civil War (1914–1945). Its overture was played out in the trenches of the ...
Hatred of Democracy

Hatred of Democracy

by Jacques Rancière

Translated by Steve Corcoran

In this vehement defence of democracy, Jacques Rancière explodes the complacency of Western politicians who pride themselves as the defenders of political freedom. As America and its allies use t...

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