MUSSOLINI. Personalidad y poder (Perfiles del poder)

Profiles in Power

by Martin Clark

Mussolini es recordado como uno de los dos dictadores fascistas más importantes del siglo XX. En 1922 se hizo con el poder en Italia y gobernó el país hasta 1943, cuando fue derrocado. Su mandato terminó en un desastre militar y una humillación personal, siendo ejecutado en 1945 por partisanos antifascistas.Esta biografía amena e ingeniosa se centra tanto en su personalidad como en su forma de gobernar. Se le contempla como un hombre con las aptitudes necesarias para alcanzar el poder, pero con pocas de las requeridas para ejercerlo correctamente a largo plazo. El autor sostiene que su atractivo consistió en encarnar virtudes vigorosas y masculinas ―coraje, responsabilidad, patriotismo, etc.― que hoy día están claramente anticuadas, pero que aún gozan de un apoyo muy extendido. Por eso, quienes le admiran aún le consideran el Último Hombre de Europa.

Genres: History, Biography

496 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 25, 2005

About the author

Martin Clark was a British historian noted for his work on modern Italy. After obtaining his degree at Cambridge, Clark gained his PhD at Birkbeck College. In 1965 he was appointed assistant lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. He remained there at the politics department until his retirement in 2001.

Reviews

[Ezekiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I observed that most reviewers reckon that this book is solely meant for students of history and historians except general readers. Well, i for one completely disagree with its recommendation who happens to be just a mere general reader. Contrary to what most of them claim, this book is eminently readable except for the part when Clark gets bogged down on corporatism and currency devaluation which most of its technalties elude my mind. But apart from that, It’s an enjoyable read especially when Mussolini attempted to transform the societal, economical, colonial and political aspects of Italy. However, the drawback of the book is that the book doesn’t go much in detail about the man himself who made very important descions that affect millions of people including the colonial subjects as the book very much claimed. In short, the book was misleading when it states at the back cover that Mussolini personality been described in detail. That’s why the 4 stars. But I still heavily recommend this book.

[Robert Ferber · Rating 4 out of 5]

library book. A fairly recent biography. I read this because of my interest in the development of an authoritarian/fascist government through populism. It really was fascinating to see how very popular and approved Mussolini was in the beginning, as he helped bring order and prosperity to a chaotic and struggling Italy following WWI. It was sobering to see how he gradually became seduced by his own image and made a series of irreversible errors, including Ethiopia, Somalia, and finally, becoming allied with Hitler and Nazi Germany.

[Genevieve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just got bored with it. The book seems less biography than social history, and more economic and political history than anything. Makes for a very dry treatment of an interesting era.