Fascist Voices: An Intimate History of Mussolini's Italy

An exceptionally original exploration into the ideology of Fascism from its conception through to its abiding legacy. WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE Fascist Voices is a fresh and disturbing look at a country in thrall to a charismatic dictator. Tracing fascism from its conception to its legacy, Christopher Duggan unpicks why the regime enjoyed so much support among the majority of the Italian people. He examines the extraordinary hold the Duce had on Italy and how he came to embody fascism. By making use of rarely examined sources, such as letters and diaries, newspaper reports, secret police files, popular songs and radio broadcasts, Duggan explores how ordinary people experienced fascism on a daily basis; how its ideology influenced politcs, religion and everyday life to the extent that Mussolini's legacy still lingers in Italy today. WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE

About the Author :
Christopher Duggan is Professor of Italian History at Reading University. He has written several books on modern Italian history, including History of Sicily, with M. I. Finley and D. Mack Smith, Fascism and the Mafia, A concise history of Italy and Francesco Crispi- From Nation to Nationalism. His most recent book is The Force of Destiny- a History of Italy Since 1796.

Review :
A fascinating exploration of the letters that ‘ordinary’ Italians who supported fascism wrote to Mussolini in the 1920s and 1930s This original, revealing and disturbing book provides a grassroots view of fascist Italy Duggan’s superbly researched book uncovers the nasty reality of [Mussolini’s] regime and demonstrates that there was a disturbing symbiotic relationship between fascism and the Catholic Church In his magnificent new book, a pathbreaking study that everyone interested in Fascism, or in Italy past and present, should read, Christopher Duggan fills the gap by examining a wide range of diaries… This enables Duggan to deliver not merely a detailed account of popular attitudes towards the regime, but, far more, a general history of Fascism that for the first time treats it, not as a tyranny that allowed ordinary Italians no possibility of expressing themselves freely, nor as the brutal dictatorship of a capitalist class that reduced the great majority of the country’s citizens to the status of victims, but as a regime rooted strongly in popular aspirations and desires. Magnificent...a pathbreaking study that everyone interested in fascism, or in Italy past and present, should read Excellent new history of Italian Fascism An elegantly written study that is the work of a historian at the height of his powers Fluid and absorbing Draws on a vast range of private letters and diaries to find out what ordinary people thought about the regime that ruled them between 1922 and 1945 Draws on a vast range of private letters and diaries