Synopses & Reviews
The cult of the Duce is the first book to explore systematically the personality cult of Benito Mussolini. It examines practices that began before Mussolini's rise to power and which multiplied as Fascism consolidated its support among the Italian population. By approaching the subject from many different angles, including those of the visual arts and the media as well as social and political history, this book makes a decisive contribution to the understanding of Fascism and modern leadership.
The conviction that Mussolini was an exceptional individual first became dogma among Fascists and then was communicated to the people at large. Intellectuals and artists helped fashion the idea of the Duce as a new Caesar while the modern media of press, photography, cinema and radio aggrandised his every public act. Mussolini's image was ubiquitous and varied; he adopted the guises of bourgeois politician, man of culture, sportsman, family man and warrior as he appealed to different audiences. The book explores in detail many manifestations of the cult and the way in which Italians experienced it. It also considers its controversial resonances in the postwar period. The founder of Fascism was the prototype dictator of the twentieth century. As such his cult is a crucial topic in the study of a century that produced many examples of dictators, some of them explicitly modelling themselves on Mussolini. Academics and students with interests in Italian and European history and politics will find the volume indispensable to an understanding of the modern era. Among the contributions is an Afterword by Mussolini's leading biographer, R.J.B. Bosworth.
Review
To come
Synopsis
The cult of the Duce is the first book to explore systematically the personality cult of the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, looking in detail at its many manifestations in the visual arts, architecture, political spectacle and the media, and analyses its controversial resonances in the postwar period.
Synopsis
The Cult of the Duce is the first book to explore systematically the personality cult of the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. It examines the factors which informed the cult and looks in detail at its many manifestations in the visual arts, architecture, political spectacle and the media. The conviction that Mussolini was an exceptional individual first became dogma among Fascists and then was communicated to the people at large. Intellectuals and artists helped fashion the idea of him as a new Caesar while the modern media of press, photography, cinema and radio aggrandised his every public act. The book considers the way in which Italians experienced the personality cult and analyses its controversial resonances in the postwar period.
Academics and students with interests in Italian and European history and politics will find the volume indispensable to an understanding of Fascism, Italian society and culture, and modern political leadership.
Among the contributions is an Afterword by Mussolini's leading biographer, R.J.B. Bosworth.
About the Author
Stephen Gundle is Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick
Christopher Duggan is Professor of Modern Italian History at the University of Reading
Giuliana Pieri is Reader in Italian and the Visual Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London
Table of Contents
Introduction; Stephen Gundle, Christopher Duggan and Giuliana Pieri
PART I: THE ORIGINS OF A PERSONALITY CULT
1. Political Cults in Liberal Italy, 1861-1922; Christopher Duggan
2. The Propagation of the Cult of the Duce, 1925-26; Christopher Duggan
3. Margherita Sarfatti and the Invention the Duce; Simona Storchi
4. Sanity from a Lunatic Asylum: Ida Dalser's Threat to Mussolini's Image; Daniela Baratieri
5. Mass Culture and the Cult of Personality; Stephen Gundle
PART II: THE DUCE AND THE FASCIST REGIME
6. A Town for the Cult of the Duce: Predappio as a Site of Pilgrimage; Sofia Serenelli
7. Mussolini's Appearances in the Regions; Stephen Gundle
8. The Internalisation of the Cult of the Duce: the Evidence of Diaries and Letters; Christopher Duggan
9. Mussolini and the Italian Empire, 1935-41; Giuseppe Finaldi
PART III: THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE DUCE
10. Portraits of the Duce; Giuliana Pieri
11. Photographing Mussolini; Alessandra Antola
12. Mussolini as Monument: the Equestrian Statue of the Duce at the Littoriale Stadium in Bologna; Simona Storchi
13. Mussolini and the City of Rome; Eugene Pooley
PART IV: AFTER THE FALL OF FASCISM
14. The Destiny of the Art and Artefacts; Giuliana Pieri
15. The Aftermath of the Mussolini Cult: History, Nostalgia and Popular Culture; Stephen Gundle
16. Mussolini and Postwar Italian Television; Vanessa Roghi
Afterword; R.J.B. Bosworth
Notes on Contributors
Index