Mussolini and Italian Fascism

Seminar Studies in History

by Giuseppe Finaldi

Fascism was one of the defining experiences of the European 20th Century. Within it many of the economic, political, social and cultural contradictions that had been brewing in the unprecedented transformation that European society underwent in the 19th and early 20th century came to a head. Mussolini, the man who most fashioned Italian Fascism, dramatically expressed the unease and the hopes of his age. To what extent can we compare Mussolini's Italy to Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Russia? What legacy has the experience of Fascism left behind in Italy and in Europe? These and many more important questions are explored in Finaldi's introduction to one of the most important movements of the European 20th Century.

206 pages, Paperback

First published July 9, 2008

Reviews

[GuyBanff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book places Italian fascism in Italy's historiography.

This book is an interesting introduction to the interpretation of fascism in Italy's history. It steers a middle way between seeing fascism as the last gasp of 19th Century Liberal Nationalism or posing that the Risorgimento was so fatally flawed in Italy fascism was inevitable.

This book is largely a overview of political history including how Italy's military weakness lead to a binding of Italy's foreign policy to Hitlers wars.

It includes an interesting collection of source documents on fascist political life.

[Mitch B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book at my local library and decided to give it a read, since I'm fascinated by this general time period. Overall, I found it to be informative in explaining the nature of Italian fascism. I had wondered for a long time how Mussolini had transitioned from socialism to fascism, which this book explains very clearly. Also, this book provides a cogent explanation of factors that distinguished Italian fascism from National Socialism, and raises important questions in historiography about Mussolini's ultimate aims. This is a worthwhile book to read to gain a more nuanced understanding of Italian Fascism

[Bristol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read! Expands on the many variations of the Fascist Party, and gives a lot of good information on both the March on Rome, and Mussolini's interactions with King Victor III before the March. Very interesting read.

[Ietrio · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book sounds like either the product of an idiotic fan boy, or one of those entrenched Marxists with an agenda. Fascism was only in Italy. So why mark it as ”Italian”? And Fascism started with Mussolini, and ended with him. The movement was him, the same way Hitler was the Nazi party.

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I slogged through this, I want the credit.

[Hilary · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author may have had good information, but his colloquial/hip style wherein he tried to appeal to the younger generation was completely unbearable. He kept beginning paragraphs and sentences with "So,..." and the words he chose to define seemed very arbitrary.