This book attempts to account for the resurgence of significant political movements of the Radical Right in France since the establishment of democracy in the country at the end of the nineteenth century. Taking to task historical treatments of the Radical Right for their failure to specify the conditions and dynamics attending its emergence, and faulting the historical myopia of contemporary electoral and party-centric accounts of the Front National, it tries to explain the Radical Right's continuing appeal by relating the socio-structural outcomes of the processes of industrialization and democratization in France to the persistence of economically and politically illiberal groups within French society. Specifically, the book argues that, as a result of the country's protracted and uneven experience of industrialization and urbanization, significant pre- or anti-modern social classes, which remained functionally ill-adapted and culturally ill-disposed to industrial capitalism and liberal democracy, subsisted late into its development.

“Employing a class-cultural focus, Goodliffe provides the first substantive socio-historical analysis of the ‘losers of modernization’ theory of the radical right.”—Cas Mudde, DePauw University

“Gabriel Goodliffe gives an in-depth analysis of the French far right, scrutinizing its historical background, its ideological and sociological foundations with outstanding accuracy and rigor.”—Dominique Reynié, University Professor, Sciences Po, Paris

"This thoroughly documented study places the evolution of radical right-wing thinking in the context of socioeconomic change. it is one of the best books on the subject in recent years. Summing Up: Highly recommended" - W. Safran, emeritus, University of Colorado at Boulder, CHOICE magazine

“a fascinating book…The argument is clear, the text well written, the sources carefully provided in an amazing display of footnotes – lengthier on some pages than the text itself, and full of treasures. The author has a thorough knowledge of France’s history, economy and politics over the past two centuries, and of the academic debates surrounding the contemporary radical rights. His “class-cultural” angle of attack stands out in the mass of books published about the Front National and his party family in Europe." - Nonna Mayer, the Centre d’études européennes at Sciences Po-CNRS, Counsel for European Studies