Mussolini

by Jasper Ridley

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) was the founder of Fascism and iron-fisted ruler of Italy for two decades. He was also an extremely able politician who won the esteem of many statesmen―including Winston Churchill and influential persons in the United States.

This biography describes Mussolini's childhood; his education (including his suspension from school for attacking other boys with knives); his World War I experiences and severe wounding; his involvement in, and eventual expulsion from the revolutionary Italian Socialist Party; his numerous love affairs, his early career as a journalist and his rise to power and brutal rule.

Genres: Biography, History, Italy, World War II, Nonfiction, Politics, Audiobook

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Jasper Ridley was a British writer, known for historical biographies. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and the Sorbonne. He trained and practiced as a barrister, before starting to write. During World War II, he was a conscientious objector and was, by his own account, violently abused while in a detention camp. He served on St Pancras Borough Council from 1945 to 1949, and stood, unsuccessfully, as Labour Party candidate for Winchester in 1955 general election.

Reviews

[Jaye Galland · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the third book about Mussolini I have read from a British historian and it is definitely the worst. The style is odd, as Ridley appears to be going for chronological, but it comes across as fragmented and often he will double back to return to an event that happened earlier (for example, he explains how Italy won the Italo-Abyssinian War but then goes back to discuss the Hoare-Laval Plan). There is some genuinely good information to be learned from this book, hence the two stars. However, unlike Richard Lamb's "Mussolini as Diplomat" and Christopher Hibbert's "Rise and Fall of Il Duce", Ridley throws in very clumsy modern criticisms of Mussolini that come across as politically motivated (which should come as no surprise, given that Ridley ran with the Labour Party).
Ridley makes some statements that one will find frustrating if they go into this knowing anything about Fascist Italy. For example, he states at the end that Mussolini didn't want to surrender to America because Roosevelt was a cripple and America had blacks fighting for them, which Ridley claims Mussolini was embarrassed that his "strong, Italian Fascists" were being beaten by "Negroes". This is what I would call a Telling Statement, stemming from Ridley's desire to virtue signal. Italy had Eritreans numbering in the tens of thousands fighting for them (including Eritrea's founding father), Somalians in the thousands, Libyans in the tens of thousands, and Abyssinians as well. Given that Ridley does not back up this ludicrous claim with any quotes from Mussolini, this is simply an ad hominem and unjustified attack on Mussolini. Ridley does the same with the Ethiopian War which he paints as a war between Blacks and Whites, once again omitting that the Italians had almost 100,000 Eritreans and Somalians fighting with them in that war. While he draws attention to African Americans "hanging Mussolini in effigy" during the war, he forgets to mention Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey's comments on Italy's opponent, Haile Selassie, whom Garvey referred to as "at best a slaveholder" and "a great coward". He prefers to draw attention to Italy's use of poison gas while, but Ridley omits the fact that the Amharic people (ruling class) of Ethiopia were conducting ethnic cleansing policies on the Harari people (which Italy stopped). He also omits the Oromo people (the second largest ethnic group in Ethiopia at the time) attacked Selassie's Amharic forces in tandem with the Italians at the Battle of Maychew. Certainly, it is convenient for Ridley to paint it as a war between Black and White, but this was not the reality of the war.
Ridley also ends his book with a very clear stab at nationalism, saying that Fascism may rise again if politicians find that they can win by appealing to "nationalist and racial hatreds". This lays his motivation bare, though it is obvious where Ridley stands from the get-go. Given that Mussolini did not rise to power by appealing to hatred (other than perhaps hatred of instability and mass poverty) this is a comment that does not relate to Italian Fascism, but seems to be a broad stroke that would better apply to Nazi Germany. It also lays bare Ridley's clear lack of understanding of nationalism (rather not discuss in a review but Ridley makes it a point in his book).
Overall, this book is written fairly well, though the order is confusing. There's some good information but ultimately comes across as a hit-piece rather than a genuine look on Mussolini, as Ridley omits many things that contradict his clearly liberal viewpoint. If you want a better book on the life and leadership and downfall of Mussolini, I'd wholeheartedly recommend Christopher Hibbert's Rise and Fall of Il Duce, which is written with more mastery of the subject and a mastery of the art of objectivity in historical assessment. Richard Lamb's Mussolini as Diplomat is also good, if you are looking for a book that it about Italy's role on the world stage with Mussolini at the helm.

[Juan Guillermo Vásquez Mejía · Rating 4 out of 5]

Para ser un biografía, desde mi punto de vista, está muy bien escrita, hace fácil su lectura y es muy clara en lo que quiere expresar.

Me gustó bastante. Creo que no lo sufrí tanto como esperaba (Leer biografías es complejo para mí), por eso hago mención al sufrimiento.

[Augustine Serio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mussolini: A Biography

l have read other bios of Mussolini but this one by Ridley is at the top of my list. The narrative was most interesting and I learned many new and personal facts about Il Duce. I recommend this book to all history buffs.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had always thought of Mussolini as a junior partner to Adolph Hitler. But this book makes it clear that Mussolini basically created National Socialism, also referred to as Fascism, in Italy as he became disillusioned with pure socialism which he saw as tied to international communism. His Fascist regime was nationalist because he wanted it to provide socialism in Italy. His government owned or controlled means of production, the classic definition of socialism, but he opposed communism as godless, internationally focused, and too controlling by actually taking all businesses and land away from previous owners making them serfs or slaves to the government. Hitler took Mussolini's National Socialism to the next level by adding in anti-Semitism to his National Socialist Workers Party or NAZI party. Mussolini was not on board with persecuting the Jews and effectively shielded them from the NAZIs until very late in the war. Not to say he was good or bad because by being a dictator he was playing in a cutthroat business. This book starts with Mussolini's youth and follows his progression into the military and his rise in Italian politics. He even had his fans overseas early on including FDR and Churchill. This was a well detailed account from his youth to his death at the hands of some communist partisans near the end of the war. It contains everything you never knew you wanted to know about Mussolini and helps tie many other aspects of WWII together.

[Steven Voorhees · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough account of Mussolini the man AND the leader. Ridley has drawn a full picture of the Italy Il Duce lived in and ruled. The author balances the two concepts (biography and national portrait) very effectively. Even before the successful Fascist March on Rome in 1922, Mussolini lived a very full life as a journalist, thinker and a socialist (until he was ousted by the socialist party). Ridley gives no short shrift to Mussolini's birth, youth and rise in Italy's CONVERSAZIONE NAZIONALE E COSCIENZIA. Later, he details how Fascism and everyday life intertwined; this detail crescendos with Ridley's confirmation that Mussolini truly did make the trains run on time. Yet with all of the efficiency and history Ridley presents in the book, I was struck by how much Il Duce and his exploits parallel modern America. Mr. Trump's presidency bears striking resemblances in tone to Mussolini's dictatorship. Ridley concludes his book with this chilling advisory: "[Fascism and anti-Fascism] could easily once again become a problem of current politics in any country in the world, as long as political leaders find that they can win enthusiastic support support by inciting nationalist and racist hatreds." Sound familiar?

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book quite fascinating, though at only 370 pages, it was lacking the depth that I think is needed in a biography of a major figure such of Mussolini. I haven't actually read much on Italian history, and I was pleasently surprised at how interesting the story of Mussolini and Italian fascism is. Again, my only complaint about this book, is the thinness of it. Too brief. Too many important events breezed over in just a few pages. This book sure did pique my interest, not just on Mussolini, but of Italian history in general.

[Stephan Whalen · Rating 4 out of 5]

“A Non-biased, Concise Treatise”

I like that it was concise and covered a lot of information over a long period of time quickly.

It seems to have translated into English and one or two parts did not quite work. The letter “z” was occasionally used in place of a “2” when citing dates.

I appreciated lack of bias. This books seems to have had no agenda beyond disseminating information as accurately as possible considering all available narratives.

[Dan Hyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

We're spoiled because there are some fantastic writers out there which sets the bar for biographies very high.

A good book but the writing doesn't achieve the level of Steven Ambrose or Walter Isaacson.

I enjoyed the book, but there were parts that were a bit too brief, and I would have liked a little more detail. The evaluation of his character and achievements seemed to be rather balanced, and I felt like I learned quite a bit about his character and motivations.

[Peter Spaulding · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good. A very good reminder of how plastic and volatile the politics of the early twentieth century was. As far as biographies go, it wasn’t super interesting. Basically Mussolini was just a person who disappeared completely into politics, so it reads more like a history of Italy from WWI to the end of the second.

Also just a good reminder of how worked up people can get in search of someone who will tell them what to think about everything.

[Naufal Ubaidillah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard childhood.
Big ego.
Shift from socialism to fascism.
Determination.
Patriotism.
Masculinity and infidelity.
Boldness in foreign policy
Difficult choices during the war.
All those aspects were depicted in great detail in this surprisingly readable biography (many biographies are not readable). I was able to relate to his very personality and grasp how he got into, consolidated, and lost power in an era of uncertainty and great regional conflict, amidst his own ideological journey.

[Debby Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before reading this book, the only thing I knew about Mussolini was that he made the trains run on time. Seriously.

This book put a few pieces of history into place for me and I'm so glad I read it.

[Gabrielle George · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography was dry and information-dense, and attentive to objectivity.

[Jaan Liitmäe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book. Sad reminder thar in general maniacs can and will probably rule us in the future as well and only way to resist them is by being active member of society....

[Bryan Cebulski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine and readable, if a little uneven and oddly paced. Like Ridley was filling in the cracks left by other, earlier works on Mussolini. Definitely not the definitive biography of the subject. Also one of those biographies that is aggressively dry for the sake of appearing objective.

[Jan Chlapowski Söderlund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mussolini by Jasper Ridley is a reasonably in-depth biography of Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator of Italy up until the end of World War 2. I want to point out at the start that my knowledge of Italian history and all things related to Mussolini is very mediocre at best. I cannot therefore reliably judge if the facts in this book are historically correct or not.

In the light of this book though, I would say Mussolini is portrayed in a quite positive way for a dictator. In comparison to his contemporaries Hitler or Stalin, he seems in fact rather reasonable as far as dictators go. Maybe this is not the whole story. I have gleaned from other articles about him and his time, that Mussolini was not as popular as he is portrayed in this book. It would have been nice to have a bit more varied view-points, than are presented here.

This is an interesting read. As a novice, I have learnt a lot about Italian history of this era. It is definitely worth your time, with the above comment in mind. Although I do agree with some voices, that this does not shad as much light as would have been nice on person Mussolini.

[Garnette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book hard going. I selected it to fill a gap in my knowledge of Italy before and during World War II. For those like me who have heard primarily about Mussolini's final days and ignominious death, this book provides a more complete picture of a smart politician who cleverly exploited opportunities. It became clearer to me how the fear of Anarchism and Bolshevism set the stage for the rise of Fascism in Italy, Spain and Germany. Although each of these countries influenced the others, the differences are fascinating. Mussolini's relationship with the Pope and Catholicism is particularly revealing, as is the protection Italian citizens provided to Italian Jews during the war. I'm glad to have read this book because it broadened my understanding, but it wasn't enjoyable reading, so I'm also glad to have finished it.

[Mark Nenadov · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one seems to be getting mixed reviews, apparently a good amount of readers who are more knowledgeable about Mussolini than I am are finding it deficient.

That said, as one who knows very little about Mussolini and who has never read a full biography of Mussolini before, I found it informative and interesting.

[BasziK · Rating 4 out of 5]

non-fiction

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good biography about the founder of fascism. This book really changed my opinion about Mussolini. Ridley does a good job bringing out the human being inside the dictator.

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting take on the dictator and his roots. I enjoyed it.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Denis Mack Smith is the one to read if you're reading only one.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, illuminating book. I learned a lot about the political aspects of WWI/WWII. This is an exemplary bibliography.

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although highly readable and a fascinating narrative insight, it never realy seems to get under Mussolini's skin so that he still remains much of an enigma by the end.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

workmanlike and at best serviceable.