Julius Evola and the Radical Right: Spiritual Racism from Fascist Italy to the New Age

Julius Evola and the Radical Right examines the ideas and influence of Italian thinker Julius Evola (1898–1974), an increasingly popular author within the far right and the esoteric milieu alike.

An iconic figure for successive generations of the radical right, Evola is both revered and reviled, but his past remains contested. Those seeking information about him are confronted with a fractured and contentious legacy. Drawing on the archival record and texts that Evola left behind, this book reconstructs his intellectual trajectory and examines his activities in Fascist Italy, in Nazi Germany, and in the neo-fascist movement after 1945. It demonstrates that Evola and his circle were not as marginal as sometimes portrayed and cooperated more closely with Fascist and Nazi officials than previously recognized. The book dispels many of the myths surrounding Evola and his “spiritual racism” while tracing Evola’s enduring influence after his death, showing how his ideas continue to inspire contemporary political movements.

This book will be of interest to scholars and students of Fascism, Nazism, antisemitism, and the Holocaust.

Peter Staudenmaier is Associate Professor of History, Marquette University, USA. His previous books include Between Occultism and Nazism: Anthroposophy and the Politics of Race in the Fascist Era (2014) and The Politics of Nature in Nazi Germany: Environmental Ideals and the Myth of Blood and Soil (2026).