The Croix de Feu and its successor the Parti Social Français stood at the centre of political conflict in the turbulent final years of the French Third Republic. Membership peaked at 750,000 in 1937, and at the time the movement was widely regarded as the counterpart of fascism in Germany and Italy. However, only recently has the view that fascism also has roots in France become a serious topic for debate. From Liberalism to Fascism is based largely on archival research, and shows that contemporary perceptions of the Croix de Feu and the PSF as fascist were in fact correct. Dr Passmore places French fascism in the wider context of the history of French conservatism through a micro-study of a crisis of the liberal-conservative tradition in Lyon. This book is the first to place the emergence of French fascism in the wider political and social context. In the process, received views of the nature of French society and politics are contested.

"Adler's monumental study makes several unique and original contributions to our understanding of the role of Italy's industrial associations in the coming to power of fascism in that country....[his] lucid, richly detailed, and compelling account will stand as the benchmark study of this topic for years to come; it also makes a major contribution to the general field of comparative political development." Choice

"The monograph furnishes a deep picture of the Italian business class and its institutions. It is an unusual history useful for general readers interested in one of modern Italy's most crucial periods, as well as a theoretical and methodological work of value to scholars and graduate students trying to puzzle out the 'new political history.'" Choice

"Adler's rich historical account...succeeds in stripping the debate over the relation between industrialists and fascism of many of the facile assumptions that have often clouded the issue." Dwayne Woods, Telos

"...there is quite a wealth of thought-provoking material in this fascinating and very well-written book." Brian A'Hearn, The Journal of Economic History