Sep 24, 2026 · 1 hr 19 min · 14 segments
In Iconic Fascism: The Excess of Destruction and Creation in Interwar Radical Right-wing Politics (Bloomsbury, 2026) Aristotle Kallis uncovers the paradox at the heart of fascist politics: the…
Aristotle KallisGuestJoe WilliamsHostSo I just attempted a bit of an introduction, but perhaps you could explain yourself in a bit more detail who you are and what your research interests are.
I'd like to call myself professor of modern and contemporary history because I think that this discussion does not end here.
At Keele University, which not many people know, it's a small university south of Manchester in the UK.
I've reached a stage in my life, in my academic life, where I've realized that I've spent the overwhelming majority of it dealing with fascism, which is quite a sobering realization, if you like.
And if I could try and create exposed factors, some kind of order in what I did, I would say that I approached fascism as a transnational force, political force not only as a doctrine, but as a culture of power.
It goes on and in many ways one could argue I don't know whether any of us would like to get into this discussion about fascism now, fascism back then, or whatever, but one could argue that this kind of discussion at least informs contemporary questions that we're asking about right-wing politics.
The latest book, Iconic Fascism, we'll have a chance to talk a little bit also about the title with regards to this.
But in some respects, I see this as a kind of conjuncture of different things that I've been doing.
On the one hand, my earlier work was on the nasty side of fascism, violence, genocide, propaganda, and so on and so forth.
Then I kind of went 180 degrees and I started being more interested in the cultural production of fascism.
So The book that I probably enjoyed most writing was about fascist Rome, and it was about the architecture and urban planning.
And I suppose this book, and I end with this, kind of comes to the point of realization that both these sides are equally constitutive and important of and about the thing that we call fascism.
So in many ways, it pulls a number of different things I've done over these 25, I dread to say years, more if you add my PhD, into something that is much more syncretic in that sense.
I'm quite familiar with aspects of your research and I can see the sort of trajectory that you sort of described there.
But let's start, as you said, with your most recent book then, which is Iconic Fascism, which you've kind of described as a bit of a culmination of some of your research interests over quite a long career so far.
Could you tell us a little bit about this book and perhaps explain a little bit about the title and what you're trying to do with it?
So I just attempted a bit of an introduction, but perhaps you could explain yourself in a bit more detail who you are and what your research interests are.
I'd like to call myself professor of modern and contemporary history because I think that this discussion does not end here.
At Keele University, which not many people know, it's a small university south of Manchester in the UK.
I've reached a stage in my life, in my academic life, where I've realized that I've spent the overwhelming majority of it dealing with fascism, which is quite a sobering realization, if you like.
And if I could try and create exposed factors, some kind of order in what I did, I would say that I approached fascism as a transnational force, political force not only as a doctrine, but as a culture of power.
It goes on and in many ways one could argue I don't know whether any of us would like to get into this discussion about fascism now, fascism back then, or whatever, but one could argue that this kind of discussion at least informs contemporary questions that we're asking about right-wing politics.
The latest book, Iconic Fascism, we'll have a chance to talk a little bit also about the title with regards to this.
But in some respects, I see this as a kind of conjuncture of different things that I've been doing.
On the one hand, my earlier work was on the nasty side of fascism, violence, genocide, propaganda, and so on and so forth.
Then I kind of went 180 degrees and I started being more interested in the cultural production of fascism.
So The book that I probably enjoyed most writing was about fascist Rome, and it was about the architecture and urban planning.
And I suppose this book, and I end with this, kind of comes to the point of realization that both these sides are equally constitutive and important of and about the thing that we call fascism.
So in many ways, it pulls a number of different things I've done over these 25, I dread to say years, more if you add my PhD, into something that is much more syncretic in that sense.
I'm quite familiar with aspects of your research and I can see the sort of trajectory that you sort of described there.
But let's start, as you said, with your most recent book then, which is Iconic Fascism, which you've kind of described as a bit of a culmination of some of your research interests over quite a long career so far.
Could you tell us a little bit about this book and perhaps explain a little bit about the title and what you're trying to do with it?
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