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Check for Availabilityout of stock. Click on the button below to search for this title in other formats.  This title in other formats:Mussolini
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments: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 cruel (but not the cruellist); his racism existed, but never with the consistency and rigour 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-fashioned, costly, nineteenth century variety, not a racial or ideological imperium. And, self-evidently Italian society was not German or Russian: the particular patterns of that society shaped his dictatorship. Richard 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. With extraordinary skill and vividness, drawing on a huge 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.
Review:'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 Carolina State University, USA Review:'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) and Hitler: Nemesis (1936-1945)and Professor of History, University of Sheffield, UK Review:??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, 16 March 2002 Review: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. The
Mussolini who emerges is an eminently believable figure: bogus in some
ways, but not a mere buffoon; brutal but not altogether inhuman; not a
colossus, yet certainly a more substantial figure than most of the
second-rate galere that surrounded him; a man with a real talent for
manipulating domestic politics, but increasingly wayward and out of his
depth in international affairs.?
Noel Malcolm, The Sunday Telegraph, 3 March 2002 Review:"Richard Bosworth has given us a well-written and reliable biography of
Mussolini that is based on an intelligent and extensive reading of the
existing scholarship. Bosworth reveals a Mussolini whose driving
ambition masked a cynical, superficial, and directionless intelligence.
Bosworth's Duce was a hollow man who was well aware of the void at
the center of his own being and under increasing strain to keep up the
spectacle that he himself created". -Alexander De Grand, North Carolina State University, USA Review:"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 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, Adolph 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 from four countries. Such a solid scholarly apparatus will impress specialists, while a more general audience will be captivated by the book's engaging and accessible writing style". - Anthony Cardoza, Chair of History, Loyola University, Chicago Synopsis:This title allows the reader to come closer to an appreciation of the life and actions of Mussolini and of the political world and society within which he operated. This biography paints a picture of brutality and failure, yet tempered with an understanding of him as a human being. Table of ContentsPreface What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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