As general introductions to the topic this reviewer recommends three books that take quite different approaches. The first, The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right, by Peter Davies and Derek Lynch, focuses on the origins of the Far Right as ideology and political action. Particular attention is paid to specific issues in relation to the political Far Right, such as nation, race, civil society, economy, and international relations. Sections giving a chronology of events, maps, scholars, and terminology complete the book. The second book of introduction is Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe, edited by Andrea Mammone, Emmanuel Godin, and Brian Jenkins. Instead of focusing on high politics and big social structures, the contributors here are more interested in ethnography, reflected in a series of case studies on several European countries. The authors analyze the political Far Right by examining local and transnational phenomena such as music styles, internet use, and cultural transfers.
Finally, this reviewer recommends The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right, edited by Jens Rydgren. The contributors focus on Far Right ideology and move toward specific issues related to its rise, such as party systems, social cleavages, youth, and religion, to mention a few. The handbook includes a section of case studies, which mostly deal with particular European countries.
