Mussolini's Italy Book

R.J.B. Bosworth's Mussolini's Italy offers a sweeping sociopolitical look at Europe's first fascist state. Bosworth examines the trends and currents in modern Italy that laid the groundwork for its slide to fascism: a chauvinist nationalism undimmed since the Risorgimento, along with a desire (even a psychological need) to find a place among the world's powers; a precarious democracy easily undercut by extremist politics, regional cleavages and reactionary distrust; the ghastly experience of World War I, which Italy entered for no good reason, suffered incredibly and gained almost nothing despite picking the winning side. Enter Benito Mussolini, a one-time socialist who sweeps aside paltry opposition, co-opts Italy's conservative, anti-republican institutions and turns them into a one-party state. Seizing power was easier than holding it; unlike Hitler or Stalin, Mussolini never felt entirely comfortable imposing himself on Italy, preferring compromise and propaganda to brute force, while never really articulating a national program beyond a vague sense of racial destiny. Bosworth's book is instructive in showing how indifferent many Italians were to Mussolini's regime; he also shows that, despite its reputation as Germany's benign, bungling partner in WWII, Italy committed more than its share of brutalities; hundreds of thousands perished in its colonial wars in Africa and a comparable number during its wartime occupation of the Balkans. The picture of Fascist Italy that emerges is complex: intermittently savage but erratically effective, unable to truly transform Italy's society and people while leaving its politics indelibly stained. A fascinating portrait of an overlooked dictatorship.