Mussolini's Italy

Oct 11, 2024 2:19 AM

Author:R J B Bosworth

Mussolini's Italy

For almost all nations the First World War was an unparalleled disaster, but the Italian experience especially was to have catastrophic consequences. Weakened and embittered, trying and failing to come to terms with 600,000 dead and with an entire generation of men militarized by fighting, Italy gave birth to a new form of political life: Fascism.

Richard Bosworth brings to life the period when Italians participated in a vast and ultimately ruinous political experiment under their dictator, Benito Mussolini, and his fascist henchmen. The fascists were the first totalitarians, aiming to reshape Italy and its people utterly. Their regime was based on a cult of violence and obedience. Yet, despite this, Italians found ingenious ways of adapting, limiting, undermining and ridiculing Mussolini's ambitions for them. The heart of this book is its engagement with the life of these ordinary Italians and their families, struggling through terrible times. Bosworth creates a powerful, plausible and entertaining picture of Italian life and a regime which - as the world hurtled towards the cataclysm of the Second World War - was to force humiliation, defeat, invasion and the utter collapse of the nation state.

Reviews

History caught on the hoof and the wing by those who were actually there - a brilliant selection and guide

—— Andrew Marr

A bravura feat in browsability, this captivating, timely and useful book will reward any amount of flipping and dipping ... full of moving, amusing and revealing detail ... What an exemplary reclaiming of Scotland's past, what a necessary and notable contribution to its future

—— Scotland on Sunday

Fascinating and very valuable . . . This book should find a place in every Scottish home

—— Scotsman

The pace rarely slackens and every page sparkles with insight

—— Herald

In Europe is not so much a work of history, nor is it strictly a travelogue of the present; it is part of a growing genre that is sometimes referred to as the 'history of the present', but might just as well be the 'presence of the past'. It is undoubtedly a spectacular and beautifully crafted piece of such writing

—— Isabella Thomas , Sunday Times

Moving across a vivid historical landscape, his portrait of Europe, in all her bloody barbarism and civilised glory, helps us confront exactly what we need to know....a timely book, and one we can't afford to ignore

—— Michael Moorcock , Daily Telegraph

This immense book is part masterpiece, part sheer exhaustion. The masterpiece part lies chiefly in its breathtaking invention

—— Jan Morris , The Times

Everywhere he goes, Mak is quietly ruthless in unmasking the acts of forgetting, selective amnesia, myth-making and historical obfuscation that persist...Mak is a truly cosmopolitan chronicler of shame and self-deceptions

—— David Goldblatt , Independent

His genius as a historian is his instinct for human stories... At moments in this monumental work... Mak is the history teacher everyone should have had

—— Simon Kuper , Financial Times

How eloquently Mak rails against the alliance of consumerism and bureaucracy! ... He has a great eye for telling detail... Only a powerful, humane and serious mind could give coherence to mass detail which, however arresting piece by piece, would otherwise soon become wearying... as much a journey around Geert Mak's head as it is a journey around Europe

—— Guardian

Fascinating

—— David V Barrett , Independent

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