Daniel Guerin, the well-known French journalist and scholar, provides a comprehensive study of fascism as it evolved in Italy and Germany. Rejecting the widely held view that fascism was a manifestation of mass insanity, Guerin examines the economic and political features of its development. He analyzes the contrasting roles of heavy and light industry in financing fascism's march to power, discusses the reasons for its widespread support in the middle class, and contrasts the "anti-capitalist" demagogy of the Italian and German fascist movements with their actual policies in power.