Totalitarianism Reconsidered

 

CHOICE

www.choice360.org

Social & Behavioral Sciences
Political Science - Political Theory

62-0242

JC480

MARC

Forti, Simona. Totalitarianism: a borderline idea in political philosophy, tr. by Simone Ghelli. Stanford, 2023. 182p bibl index ISBN 9781503627505, $100.00; ISBN 9781503637375 pbk, $25.00; ISBN 9781503637382 ebook, contact publisher for price.

Integrating the insights of political theory and contemporary politics, Forti (Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy) offers a timely analysis of the “evolving” concept of totalitarianism in theory and practice. The book is a survey of how “reflection on totalitarianism ushered in a new, unprecedented way of thinking [about] power” (p. 145). Forti provides a convincing overview of the emergence of “one of the most significant and stormy debates in contemporary political theory and philosophy” (p. 4), which advances the standard depiction of the concept as the comparison between Nazism and Stalinism. In a succinct manner, Forti outlines the development of totalitarianism from the origins of the notion in the works of Amendola, Gramsci, and Schmitt, among others, through subsequent understandings. With clarity, she critiques the critics of totalitarianism, especially the work of Eric Voegelin and the central role of Hannah Arendt's scholarship. The book’s final chapter and conclusion take the form of a convincing plea for the continued assessment of totalitarianism's dangers and the many forms of the idea. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and general readers. -- H. L. Cheek Jr., emeritus, East Georgia State College

Choice Vol. 62, Issue 1

Sept 2024