Cover Image: How to Spot a Fascist

How to Spot a Fascist

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Member Reviews

Three short reprinted essays coming at a timely moment in our history. Everywhere there are examples of fascism, many ‘legitimately’ elected. Eco urges us not to be complacent and in his humane and thoughtful and finely wrought prose encourages us to strive for the best and most honourable.

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I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I've read this author before and thoroughly enjoy his work
I mistook this for a new fiction and didn't realise this was a short essay driven piece
Nevertheless, I did really enjoy this

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This is a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars

I thought this was a great intro but I was expecting it to be longer than a few dozen pages. It doesn’t actually do what the title says, it just points at examples of fascism in dictators such as Mussolini, Hitler & Lenin.

The content was good, just I wanted more.

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A short book which is a collection of 3 essays by the author. Umberto Eco is one of the finest Italian writers, that I, to my shame, have never read.
Many will know of him through his first novel which was made into a popular Hollywood movie, The Name of The Rose. Seen the film, beguiled by the plot and imagery but as yet not kept my promise to read the book. (I own the “Vintage Classic” publication and having been engaged by the author’s writing style here in non-fiction I am more determined to read his fiction).

I enjoyed these three essays equally and each has special merits.

Ur-Fascism was the hardest read. Quite technical and intellectual in its outline and points made; it was a personal reflection without force of opinion or argument. Simply put, it drew from Eco’s own experiences, Freedom was the absence of Fascism. His list of characteristics is easy to follow and assimilate. Being just a short book, it would not be a chore to re-read these sections.

Censorship and Silence was quite brilliant and again drawing from his own life and providing simple examples made for a clear and easy to follow message.

We are European is another great example of a focused made and a master of vocabulary to share in words those feelings we share across Europe and why this is so. Sadly, perhaps because of TV many Brits may feel closer to Americans due to a shared language and perceived culture. However, I accept this author is closer to reality and in a Post Brexit world we perhaps need to heed his call to speak out and name Racism for what it is today.

Who’d have thought that this writing would bring me into a closer relationship with this author and help me to re-prioritise my reading list?

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Umberto Eco's frequent use of a fairly academic vocabulary, as well as his references to some historical aspects that may not be well-known to the general public, have the unfortunate effect to make these essays not as accessible as their brevity might suggest. Nevertheless, the political astuteness and relevance of these texts are undeniable, and there is no question that many of the ideas presented in this little book absolutely deserve to be more widespread.

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These three brief essays may not be Eco at his most brilliant and incisive, but they are timely and accessible. His iconic 'How to Spot a Fascist' has all kinds of resonances with US and UK Brexit politics ('the voice of the people' trope that was everywhere from Leavers), and the related 'We are European' is both a rallying cry against racism (which the first essay called out as a defining indicator of fascism) and a plea against intolerance.

It's interesting to recall that Eco grew up under Mussolini and so had first-hand knowledge of a Fascist regime. He also pinpoints accurately the way 'suspicion of intellectual life has always been a symptom of Ur-Fascism' - recalling the rejection of experts and so-called intellectual elites in both the Trump and Brexit campaigns. These are short but give a taster of Eco's humanistic politics and breadth of interests.

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A timely and insightful look into what fascism is how to spot it.
Thank you to Vintage and Netgalley for this DRC.

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This non-fiction collection of three essays was a quick read, off-putting at first because it seemed to require a knowledge of Italian history, politics and art that I was unfamiliar with, but then progressed into a more generic, useful list of ways to spot fascism, a thoughtful insight into media censorship and the uses of noise and silence as weapons and, a call to action against racism and intolerance. It raised more questions than it answered, but it did get me thinking.

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This is a fairly short and quick read, with information that packs a punch and makes the reader contemplate. I particularly enjoyed the short essay on noise in our society. I also appreciated Eco’s emphasis on how fascism isnt defeated but always adapting and evolving and it takes all of us to stand up against it. I would have liked some more essays, i think, that would have tied them all together and made an overarching point.

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