From 1926 until 1974, the Italian scholar and spiritualist Julius Evola produced books, articles, and essays on the source of the decline of the modern world. These works showed a devotion to a long-passed Golden age, when power was absolute, hierarchy was indefinitely fixed, and instability was an impossibility. This world and the knowledge associated with it was lost, hidden, or "esoteric." Evola’s Weltanschauung was thus easily assimilable to that of the Italian Fascists and German Nazis. Throughout the fascist era, Evola made connections with low- and high-level fascists in Italy and abroad. After the Second World War ended in an Axis defeat, Evola distanced himself from the fascist regimes of old, even while he inspired the next generation of Italian neofascists. Evola’s political theories thus emulate many of the qualities of historical fascism, while they are also distinct enough to claim intellectual autonomy.