The history and ideologies of the Far Right in Britain have been well documented, but there has been little understanding of the movement's cultural foundations. This text explores the cultural history of fascism and the Far Right and mines a seam of intense interest for both academics and students, as well as for the general reader. The book demonstrates that British fascism is essentially not just a political movement, but one that has as its goal the establishment of an all-embracing fascist culture in Britain. The contributions cover film, theatre, music, literature, the visual arts and the mass media. Striking examples of the material that they examine include fascist marching songs, "Aryan music", the creation of Mosley as a "matinee idol", even "fascist science", the cult of the "New Fascist Man" and fascist "masculinity" and "feminity". The authors demonstrate the persistence of the Far Right cultural forms from Mosley's British Union of Fascists within the present National Front and British National Party.

Table of Contents:
Contributors Biographies vii Julie V. Gottlieb and Thomas P. Linehan: Introduction: Culture and the British Far Right 1 Part I: Cultural Perspectives: The British Far Right and Ideologies of Culture Matthew Hendley: Women and the Nation: The Right and Projections of Feminized Political Images in Great Britain, 1900A-18 13 Thomas P. Linehan: Reactionary Spectatorship: British Fascists and Cinema in Inter-War Britain 27 Roger Griffin: This Fortress Built Against Infection: The BUF Vision of Britains Theatrical and Musical Renaissance 45 Richard Thurlow: The Developing British Fascist Interpretation of Race, Culture and Evolution 66 Part II: Cultural Representations: Cultural Histories of British Fascism Julie V. Gottlieb: Britains New Fascist Men: The Aestheticization of Brutality in British Fascist Propaganda 83 Philip M. Coupland: The Black Shirt in Britain: The Meanings and Functions of Political Uniform 100 Helen Pussard: The Blackshirts at Belle Vue: Fascist Theatre at a North-West Pleasure Ground 116 Steven Woodbridge: Purifying the Nation: Critiques of Cultural Decadence and Decline in British Neo-Fascist Ideology 129 VI THE CULTURE OF FASCISM Part III: Cultural Confrontations: Foreign Influences and Cultural Exchange Claudia Baldoli: Anglo-Italian Fascist Solidarity? The Shift from Italophilia to Naziphilia in the BUF 147 Richard Griffiths: Another Form of Fascism: The Cultural Impact of the French Radical Right in Britain 162 Dan Stone: The Far Right and the Back-to-the-Land Movement 182 Notes 199 Index 247