Hi, I reformulate my previous post which did not specified that I was interested in the history of fascism rather than its contemporary occurences. So I am looking for reliable books on fascism as a political movement from the 20th century. I am also wondering if Fascism: Comparison and Definition by Stanley G Payne is considered a good and reasonably up to date work?
Thank you in advance!
Two solid books on the subject are The Anatomy of Fascism by Paxton, and How Fascism Works by Stanley. The latter is an easier read, but the former is far more thorough. Both go through the trouble of explaining what fascism is, what it does, as well as the historical and economic circumstances in which it arose and continues to arise.
The closest thing to a primary source on what Fascism is comes from Mussolini himself in his work The Doctrine of Fascism. Though it should be noted that this is specifically about the Italian brand of fascism, generally referred to in other works as Fascism (note the capital F), as opposed to fascism (note the lowercase f) in general.