Summary

Why and how did Mussolini come to power? Why is he often regarded as a figure of fun, while his contemporaries, Hitler and Stalin, are seen as tyrants? Did he really revolutionise Italy? With extraordinary skill and vividness, Bosworth's biography paints a picture of brutality and failure, yet combined with an understanding of Mussolini the man.

Mussolini by Richard J. B. Bosworth

Mussolini loved trees so much that he quizzed his bureaucracy about storm damage to the environment. He kept the works of Socrates and Plato on his desk. He regularly wrote to his daughter, if only to report family pleasure at victories by the national football team. Yet nearly a million people went early to their graves as the result of his dictatorship. Why and how did Mussolini come to power? Why is he often regarded as a figure of fun, while his contemporaries, Hitler and Stalin, are seen as totalitarian tyrants? Did he really revolutionise Italy? With extraordinary skill and vividness, Richard Bosworth's biography paints a picture of brutality and failure, yet combined with an understanding of Mussolini the man. The remarkable story of the ambitious intellectual from the provinces who built a fascist empire but ended in disgrace, shot ignominiously by his own people, never fails to grip. 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 'It is the best biography in English to date.' The Spectator 'highly readable' BBC History Magazine 'a fresh, intelligent and judicious re-examination of Mussolini and the Fascist period.' The New York Times Sunday Book Review About the author: Richard Bosworth is one of the world's leading authorities on modern Italian history. He has been a Visiting Fellow at a number of institutions, including the Italian Academy at Columbia University, Clare Hall (Cambridge), Balliol (Oxford), and the Humanities Research Centre (ANU, Canberra). About the author: Richard Bosworth is one of the world's leading authorities on modern Italian history. He has been a Visiting Fellow at a number of institutions, including the Italian Academy at Columbia University, Clare Hall (Cambridge), Balliol (Oxford), and the Humanities Research Centre (ANU, Canberra).

'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) '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 '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 '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 'Richard Bosworth has produced a solid, judicious and very readable account of the Duce's life, based on extensive archival research and a well-nigh exhaustive knowledge of the secondary literature.' Noel Malcolm, The Sunday Telegraph, 3 March 2002 6 Frank McLynn, The Independent on Sunday, 21 April 7 The Spectator, 18 May 2002 8 BBC History Magazine, June 2002 9 Library Journal 10 The New York Times Book Review 11 Booklist 12 Bollettino del CIRT 13 Tribune 14 Choice 15 The Sunday Times 16 Holocaust & Genocide Studies

Mussolini Richard J. B. Bosworth

Mussolini by Richard J. B. Bosworth

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Mussolini by Richard J. B. Bosworth

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