Abbott Gleason "Totalitarianism: The Inner History of the Cold War."

Totalitarianism offers a penetrating chronicle of the central concept of our era--an era shaped by our conflict first with fascism and then with communism. Interweaving the story of intellectual debates with the international history of the twentieth century, Gleason traces the birth of the term to Italy in the first years of Mussolini's rule. Created by Mussolini's enemies, the word was appropriated by the Fascists themselves to describe their program in what turned out to be one of the less totalitarian of the European dictatorships.

He follows the growth and expansion of the concept as it was picked up in the West and applied to Hitler's Germany and the Soviet Union.

Gleason's account takes us through the debates of the early postwar years, as academics in turn adopted the term--notably Hannah Arendt. The idea of totalitarianism came to possess novelists such as Arthur Koestler (Darkness at Noon) and George Orwell (whose 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' was interpreted by conservatives as an attack on socialism in general, and subsequently suffered criticism from left-leaning critics).

Hardcover. 1995.

Brand new. Covers show very light wear with rubbing. Reminder mark on top edge.