British fascist organizations have always been more or less marginal and unsuccessful, yet they have also captured the attention of researchers and the media. Often, British fascism is dismissed too easily as something driven by cranks and eccentrics. Contrastingly, sophisticated research in this field, exemplified by this volume, takes fascist discourses seriously and makes a sustained effort to understand their worldview. John Richardson's main achievement with British Fascism: A Discourse-Historical Analysis is to show how this marginalized milieu has spawned a rich and complex language, one that evokes fear of minority groups, demonizes the political mainstream, and frames its own radicalism as the only solution to the nation's ostensible woes.

Richardson's analysis of British fascism is based on critical discourse analysis methodology. As editor of the journal Critical Discourse Studies, and so a leading figure in this style of linguistic analysis, Richardson is ideally placed to make his arguments relevant not merely to scholars of British fascism but also to a much wider audience interested in how such extremist political agendas are articulated. Indeed, the first third of this innovative book is devoted to discussing methodological issues.

In the first of the book's two theoretically driven chapters, Richardson engages with a wide range of approaches to understanding the term fascism itself. Interestingly, he takes issue with elements of Roger Griffin's influential model for conceptualizing fascism. Drawing on Michael Billig's work in particular, Richardson is keen to present fascism as an ideology that lacks a revolutionary core, and ultimately acts as a mechanism for preserving capitalism. Fascism, for Richardson, is summarized as a “strong to extreme” form of nationalism that supports a capitalist economy, opposes Marxism and Communism, and poses a direct threat to freedom and democracy. Richardson's second chapter then describes what a discourse-historical approach to critical discourse analysis is: essentially, a focus on critically examining historical contexts of extremist discourse. Moreover, as Richardson explains in his conclusion, the approach is necessary, as he believes “fascist discourse is vitally important to analyze, to understand and to oppose. Each of these aims can, and should, be united in critical analysis of fascist discourse” (275).

In his third chapter, “A Synoptic History of People and Parties,” Richardson moves from theory to historical contexts. British fascism is dated as beginning in 1923, with the foundation of the British Fascisti, led by Rotha Linton-Orman. Other interwar groups discussed include Arnold Leese's Imperial Fascist League and Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists. While these organizations are better explored in the existing literature, more useful is Richardson's well-researched mapping of the post-1945 groups. This includes organizations such as Mosley's Union Movement and neo-Nazi groupuscules like Colin Jordan's National Socialist Movement. Richardson also explores the history of more recent groups, including the National Front in the 1970s and the British National Party in the 2000s, as well as their many breakaway organizations.

Having highlighted the bewildering array of activism to be covered by the study, Richards focuses on fascist nationalism (especially concepts of “Britain” and “Britishness”) in chapter 4. Examining a wide range of fascist publications, leaflets, and other material, he draws out how ideas of race and nation have been deeply intertwined. Successive generations, Richardson stresses, have argued for an ethnic understanding of national identity. Richardson concludes that essentializing elements in this nationalistic discourse also promote patriarchal gender roles, and often such discussions veer into eugenic fantasies. Finally, metaphors drawn from nature help British fascists claim their political ideals are legitimate, healthy, and grounded in celebration of a lost natural order of things—one that needs to be returned to, and even idolized.

In chapter 5, “A ‘Real Alternative,’” Richardson moves to the economic agendas developed by British fascists, examining how British fascists have demonized Communism for political benefit while engaging in their own, seemingly radical ideological positioning, as exemplified by the British Union of Fascists’ proposals for a Corporate State, or the exploration of Distributism by the National Front. In one way or another, British fascist economics proposes a new type of national economy that fends off alleged threats from international forces, typically—though not always—identified as Jewish. Here, Richardson concludes that fascism, even in its most radical forms of economic nationalism, seeks to capture the energies of capitalism for the supposed good of the nation. Fascist discourses on economic affairs also offer beguiling simplifications of complex issues in ways that serve to promote the profits of the already wealthy while reducing the rights of workers. As such, Richardson rejects assertions that fascism is an alternative “third way” between capitalism and communism. For him, it is only ever an aggressive embodiment of capitalism. This is a contentious point, and demonstrates how Richardson rejects the approach of Griffin and others (myself included) that argue it is crucial to grasp how fascists genuinely believe their ideas offer a revolutionary, or more specifically palingenetic, solution to their woes.

Richardson's final substantive chapter, “Fascism and its Threat to Civil Society,” opens with the striking example of the murder of Jo Cox MP, and explores the relationship between her murderer, Thomas Mair, and the language found in a range of contemporary fascist groups, such as Britain First. As with other chapters, the discussion then moves through a wide range of examples, from the interwar and postwar period, to examine ways British fascists have posed a serious threat to public safety. The racism of British fascists can, on the one hand, be expressed through street violence and hate crimes, while on the other can benefit from legitimization by the mass media. Again Richardson argues that, although culturally complex, fascists offer no real solutions. Richardson explains that even British fascism's most celebrated demographic group, white men, would be losers in a future fascist state, not only economically worse off but also deprived of many rights and freedoms.

Richardson concludes that we should be “ever alert to the doctrine of British fascism and, in particular, to the ways that extremists clothe their inegalitarian political projects in apparently moderate apparel” (283). His volume offers a wide-ranging, innovative, and “critical” analysis of this milieu. Many examples cited will be new even to experts in the field, and the book is steeped in detailed archival research. Richardson's conceptual approach may be challenged by some in the field, yet his focus on the discourses created by fascists marks a tangible step forwards in the understanding of the cultures fostered by fascism.