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"Exhaustive study of Benito Mussolini...leaves no stone unturned in trying to explain the complexities of Il Duce and his times...Reveals the author's appreciation of the complex ingredients of Il Duce's legacy, a legacy that still influences Italian politics...Although his 22-year dictatorial reign brought misery to millions, Mussolini never bought into the racist fanaticism of his Nazi brethren. As Bosworth infers, Mussolini's inherent zest for life kept him from becoming the grim exterminator Hitler wanted him to be...The definitive study of the Italian dictator and belongs in every public and academic library with a strong European history collection."—Library Journal
Bosworth (history, Univ. of West Australia; Italian Dictatorship) is an authority on 20th-century Italy, and his exhaustive study of Benito Mussolini, first published in London, leaves no stone unturned in trying to explain the complexities of Il Duce and his times. Bosworth includes copious footnotes and an impressive bibliography to authenticate his compelling interpretation of Italy's Fascist dictator. This portrait of Mussolini reveals the author's appreciation of the complex ingredients of Il Duce's legacy a legacy that still influences Italian politics. Mussolini was a "man of image" whose virile charisma unified a fractious nation, but the ideological underpinnings of fascism never sank very deeply into Italian society. Although his 22-year dictatorial reign brought misery to millions, Mussolini never bought into the racist fanaticism of his Nazi brethren. As Bosworth infers, Mussolini's inherent zest for life kept him from becoming the grim exterminator Hitler wanted him to be. Bosworth's biography easily supersedes Denis Mack Smith's 1982 Mussolini as the definitive study of the Italian dictator and belongs in every public and academic library with a strong European history collection. Jim Doyle, Sara Hightower Regional Lib., Rome, GA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
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| $99.99 | Digital |
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Steven Landis
reviewed Mussolini on January 21, 2011
Mussolini
Mussolini has always been a puzzle for me and after reading this book he remains a puzzle. This is not the fault of the author but of the man who seems to have been a puzzle to himself.
Mussolini was an arrogant pseudo-intellectual who employed demagoguery and flattery to obtain and keep power. Once he had it, though, he was in way over his head.
Bosworth does a good job describing how Italy ended up in the miserable situation of aiding Nazi Germany. The Fascists were by no means natural allies to the Nazis (indeed, nationalism alone should have driven them apart) but Mussolini's idiotic foreign policy of 19th century imperialism isolated Italy from potential allies like France or Great Britain. Bosworth also does a wonderful job describing how poorly Mussolini read the situation, thinking Germany might seek peace with Stalin to fight the West!
There are a few drawbacks to this book. Many characters come in and out without us ever getting to know them. Perhaps not Bosworth's fault; we know about Himmler, Goering, and Goebbels because we focus so much on Nazi Germany, and giving a similar account to all of these important secondary characters would greatly increase this already not small book. Nevertheless, it is hard to follow people we do not know or care about.
Bosworth seems to dislike how history has treated Mussolini as a joke, but his own book seems to confirm it. The random shot at capitalism and advertising at the end doesn't fit in well.
Mussolini may have been impressed with Plato's Republic, a beautiful totalitarian state. He should have focused on Socrates' message concerning the human soul, however. I almost feel bad for him after reading this book. Not that I wish he would've achieved his goals, but the man was pathetic, a point all the more poignant next to the myth of il Duce.
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