Let’s pretend we took a random poll through New York City streets, asking random individuals for an opinion about fascism. How many would have anything positive to say? Most likely very few, if any at all. That is because in 2018, more than half a century away from the fall of the greatest fascist regimes in history, fascism is generally (and rightfully) regarded as an oppressive, philistine and backwards way of government. After being exposed to the unrelenting tide of history, this way of thinking about fascism is beyond justified, especially in the country so instrumental to preventing its expansion.

However, the American-drawn picture of fascism has not always been painted with such negative strokes. In a valiant effort to show just how differently fascism was once depicted in the United States, Italian historian Mauro Canali held a brilliant talk at NYU’s Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò last night, shedding light on the disjointed portrait.