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| Fascist Voices : An Intimate History of Mussolini's Italy
ISBN: 9780199338375
Platform/Publisher: Ebook Central / Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Limited; Download: 7 Days at a Time
Subjects: Political Science; History;
In this thoroughly engaging history, Duggan (The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796), an expert on Italian history, chronicles Mussolini's rise, reign, and fall through a close examination of journals, letters, telegrams, and other textual artifacts from before and during WWII. Taken together, they capture by turns the Italian people's love and hatred of their leader, as well as the sheer strangeness of living in a fascist state. Mussolini's "broad church" of fascism brought many of his countrymen and women into the fold, and Duggan's account presents jaw-dropping examples of their attachment to Il Duce. One author wrote a book called The Imitation of Mussolini; schoolchildren were taught a poem about Mussolini and his mother; female admirers wrote love letters. Others, however, furtively recorded their principled opposition to the violence of the fascist regime. In a powerful shift to the present, Duggan ends the book with a selection of laudatory entries recently penned in the guestbook at Mussolini's tomb-a sobering reminder that though Il Duce is dead, his strange and mercurial allure lives on. 2 maps. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Christopher Duggan is Professor of Modern Italian History at the University of Reading, Head of of the School of Languages and European Studies, and Director of the Centre for Modern Italian History. His publications include: Francesco Crispi: From Nation to Nationalism and The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy since 1796. |
