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Mussolini

Mussolini

by R.J.B.Bosworth (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2002

    $8.86
Synopsis

In 1945, disguised in German greatcoat and helmet, Mussolini attempted to escape from the advancing Allied armies. Unfortunately for him, the convoy of which he was part was stopped by partisans and his features, made so familiar by Fascist propaganda, gave him away. Within 24 hours he was dead, executed by his captors. He joined those he sent early to their graves as an outcome of his dictatorship - at least a million people, and probably more. He was one of the tyrant-killers who so scarred interwar Europe, but we cannot properly understand him or his regime by any simple equation with Hitler or Stalin. Like Hitler and Stalin, his life began, modestly, in the provinces; unlike them, he maintained a traditional male family life, including both wife and mistresses, and sought in his way to be an intellectual. He was both cruel (but not the cruellist); his racism existed, but never without the consistency and vigour that would have made him a good recruit for the SS. He sought an empire; but, in the most part, his was of the old-fashione, costly, 19th-century variety, not a racial or ideological imperium. Also, self-evidently Italian society was not German or Russian: the particualr patterns of that society shaped his dictatorship. This book allows the reader to come closer to an appreciation of the life and actions of the man and of the political world and society within which he operated. Drawing on a range of sources, this biography paints a picture of brutality and failure, yet one tempered with an understanding of Mussolini as a human being, not so different from many of his contemporaries.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 608
 Publisher: Hodder Arnold
Published: 15 Mar 2002
ISBN 10: 0340731443
ISBN 13: 9780340731444
Book Overview: The first major English-language biography for 20 years Reveals true nature of Mussolini's power Bosworth is one of the leading historians of 20th-century Italy Emphasises Mussolini's brutality and failure but without demonising him

Media Reviews
Impressively researched, splendidly written, sound in judgement, rich in insight and humane in spirit - in every respect a superb study of Mussolini and his Fascist regime. Ian Kershaw, author of Hitler: Hubris (1889-1936) *Winner of the Premier's Prize & the Non Fiction Prize in the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards 2002* This is a major literary accomplishment, as well as an extraordinary biography of a perplexing and paradoxical personality and an internationally significant contribution to an understanding of Mussolini's role in history. It is a massive work of substance, of historical research and analysis, and yet is readily accessible to the lay reader. The work may well enter the lore of works that become a yardstick by which other biographies are measured. The first major biography of Benito Mussolini to appear since the end of the Cold War, Bosworth's new study avoids the parochialism, ethnic stereotyping, and ideological partisanship that have defined so much of the previous work on the leader of Italian Fascism. The resulting portrait of the Duce is a subtle and complex one that captures the multiple strengths, flaws, and contradictions of his personality and of a remarkable political career that spanned the most traumatic moments of the twentieth century. Bosworth's distinctive approach, which carefully assesses the interplay between Mussolini's intentions and the structural realities of Italian society in the shaping of events, not only provides insightful comparisons with his more notorious Axis partner, Adolf Hitler, but also offers a comprehensive view of the Fascist regime as a whole. His biography rests upon a sweeping command of a vast propagandistic and secondary literature as well as a wide array of archival sources drawn Anthony Cardoza, Chair of History, Loyola Universi Bosworth's Mussolini challenges most of the recent interpretations of the Italian leader ... [He] demolishes the image of the Duce strutting across the European stage in charge of his own destiny. Charisma, a lust for power, and boundless ambition carried Mussolini far from his origins in Dovia and Predappio but left him in the end a physical wreck at the mercy of forces he could not control and men with wills that were much stronger than his own. Italy, as they say, was collateral damage. Alexander De Grand, Professor of History, North Ca Without concealing or trying to palliate Mussolini's cynicism, brutality and moral cowardice, and admitting his ultimate failure, R.J.B. Bosworth offers a measured assessment, not without sympathy and even at times with admiration. He seems to me to have come closer to a true understanding of Mussolini than any previous English-language biographer. His book is excellent - persuasive and highly intelligent. It is lucid, elegant and a pleasure to read. Allan Massie, The Daily Telegraph, March 16, 2002 6 Excellent as Bosworth's account of the social and international dimension is, he still has to pass the ultimate test of biography: a convincing account of the subject's personality. Here he fares especially well, for Mussolini is a hard psychological nut to crack. The author wins one over with his many witty asides and insights (and there are not many scholarly biographies where that happens) and there is ample evidence of a subtle and humorous mind at work. Frank McLynn, The Independent on Sunday, 21 April It is the best biography in English to date. The Spectator, 18 May 2002 ...highly readable... BBC History Magazine, June 2002 This portrait of Mussolini reveals the author's appreciation of the complex ingredients of Il Duce's legacy. Bosworth's biography easily supersedes Denis Mack Smith's 1982 Mussolini as the definitive study of the Italian dictator. Library Journal ...a scholarly work based on original documents and an examination of the archives. The Argus Bosworth's Mussolini allows us to come closer than ever before to an appreciation of the life and actions of the man and of the political world and society within which he operated. Bollettino del CIRT [A] splendidly written, thoroughly researched, sensitive and judiciously sceptical new biography. Time Literary Supplement
Author Bio
Richard Bosworth has a shared professorship in the History departments at Reading University, UK and the University of Western Australia.