Black Shirt

More about the book

Hated and adored, trusted and feared, respected and scorned—public opinion has never been indifferent to Sir Oswald Mosley. A brilliant politician, Mosley turned his back on conventional party politics to found, in 1932, the British Union of Fascists. Over the intervening years until now, many have worked hard to guard Mosley’s reputation, but Blackshirt casts new light on the man. The author reveals the true nature of Mosley's relationship with the Nazis, and challenges the prevailing view of Mosley’s descent into anti-Semitism. With groundbreaking research and extensive use of archive material, Dorril uncovers a bizarre set of characters and behind-the-scenes friends and colleagues who supported Mosley—the crooks, swindlers, political and royal figures, secret agents, Nazi spies, lovers, and "crackpots." Blackshirt is an important and controversial new biography that overturns many of the accepted ideas about Oswald Mosley and British Fascism.