The Capitol Riots, the Great Replacement Theory, Trump’s call to ‘terminate’ the US Constitution. In 2024, fascism is back—and today, it has seduced liberal societies and people worldwide.

Infinite Discontent: Writings on the Allure of Fascism examines how fascism colonises the liberal mind. Using psychoanalysis, music history, and memoir, Cannon explores why David Bowie once believed ‘very strongly in fascism.’ Cannon also looks to his own life to confront what Michel Foucault called ‘the fascism in us all.’ Across the book’s five chapters, Cannon shows that fascism—to borrow from George W. Bush—is a ‘War on Terror.’ Liberal minds and societies, the book says, fall for fascism in times of crisis, terror and ‘breakdown.’ Fascism seduces us when we are consumed by infinite discontent.

Lively and accessible, Infinite Discontent is an urgent intervention into today’s political debates. Offering a psychosocial perspective on fascism, it shows how anxiety rewrites our societies and souls. But it is also a hopeful work. Ultimately it asks what we must change today to avoid the horrors of fascism tomorrow. It calls us to think about how we might live well in a world ravaged by anxiety.

Praise for Infinite Discontent

‘Fascism represents a constant temptation for liberalism and for those invested in a liberal project. Alasdair Cannon’s remarkable Infinite Discontent gets to the heart of fascism’s seductive power in a way that no other work has. Through a probing study of figures as varied as David Bowie and Michel Foucault, Cannon reveals why fascism takes hold of even those most firmly committed to opposing it’ — Todd McGowan

‘As Freud and Einstein asked “why war?”, today we must ask ourselves “why fascism?” Alasdair Cannon’s Infinite Discontent is both a fascinating study of the mass appeal of fascism, and a heartfelt account of someone who was able to look into the abyss up close and recognize what was reflected in the gaze he received back. In Infinite Discontent readers will find an important invitation to doubt and hope, so that our capacity for reading the absurd can prevail.’ — Amanda Mont’Alvão Veloso, psychoanalyst & author

Publisher: eidolon ink
ISBN: 9781399999571