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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.
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. -- .
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
Based on the Storyland Yoga DVD, (winner of Parent's Choice, Mom's
Choice Gold, Dr. Toy's Best Green Product and Creative Child
Magazine "Preferred Choice" awards), "Condor Trek Kids," is the
book version of the fun-filled Storyland Yoga Adventure that
teaches kids yoga poses, while it infuses children with
eco-conscious messages, physical activity and literacy. The book
engages a child's imagination through storytelling, while they
learn yoga poses by becoming part of the story and imitating
animals. Yoga is great exercise and helps to calm children giving
them greater focus and increased clarity. "Condor Trek Kids" is a
physical education, life science and literacy reader to the Common
Core Educational Standard.
Many of Italy's current problems can be traced back to the years
1948-1958, one of the most interesting but least-studied periods of
recent Italian history. This was a decade in which the main
cultural and political parameters of contemporary Italy were laid
down. It was a time of enormous intellectual and artistic vitality,
and a period in which the tensions generated by the Cold War
affected the country to a greater degree than in any other western
nation.
This first general survey of the period provides an overview of the
political and economic position of Italy during the Cold War as
well as an assessment of the affect of the Cold War on
intellectual, cultural and artistic life. Distinguished scholars
from a range of disciplines present case-histories on subjects as
diverse as:
- the state's attitude towards the evolution of the family;
- the American presence in the Italian economy; and
- the place of the Italian film in world cinema.
- Italy's attitude towards the EEC and its relationship with NATO
Students and specialists who wish to enhance their understanding of
Italian current affairs will find this interdisciplinary approach
to the period invaluable.
"an important addition to scholarship on Italian history, politics
and social anthropology, as well as a contribution to our
understanding of the Italian concept of regionalism from different
perspectives. ...] From an anthropological point of view, this
reader may represent a landmark for future case studies on the ways
in which the ideologies of the autonomist movements are received
and interpreted by the people involved." --Journal of Cambridge
Anthropology
"an interesting book which will be appreciated by political
scientists and political sociologists in search of longitudinal
perspectives, and by all readers who believe in interdisciplinary
work." --South European Society and Politics
Christopher Duggan Reader in Italian History and Director of the
Centre for the Advanced Study of Italian, University of Reading
Christopher Wagstaff Christopher Wagstaff, Senior Lecturer in
Italian Studies, University of Reading
The greatness of Italy's culture and way of life have had a
powerful attraction for many generations of visitors. This has
created an overwhelming sense that Italy is a fundamentally benign
and easy going country. The Force of Destiny, Christopher Duggan's
immensely enjoyable new book, lays waste to this idea. While
sharing everyone's enthusiasm for Italy as a place, he strongly
distinguishes this from its political role over the past two
centuries, which has been both vicious and ruinous for Europe as a
whole.
Since its formation in 1861, Italy has struggled to develop an
effective political system and a secure sense of national identity.
This new edition of Christopher Duggan's acclaimed introduction
charts the country's history from the fall of the Roman Empire in
the west to the present day and surveys the difficulties Italy has
faced during the last two centuries in forging a nation state.
Duggan successfully weaves together political, economic, social and
cultural history, and stresses the alternation between materialist
and idealist programmes for forging a nation state. This second
edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to offer increased
coverage of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Italy, as well as a
new section devoted to Italy in the twenty-first century. With a
new, extensive bibliographical essay and a detailed chronology,
this is the ideal resource for those seeking an authoritative and
comprehensive introduction to Italian history.
The Sicilian mafia is a subject of endless fascination, but few
serious books have been written about it. In this provocative work,
Christopher Duggan argues that the idea of the mafia is a fiction,
born of political calculation and genuine misunderstanding of the
behaviour of Sicilians. The first part of the book looks at the
development of the idea of the mafia from the 1860s, when the term
first appeared, to the Second World War. Although all serious
observers realised that there was no organised criminal society in
Sicily, Duggan explains why the idea was perpetuated. When the
island became part of unified Italy in 1860, hostility to the new
state was claimed by officials to be criminally inspired, and they
spoke for the first time of 'the Mafia'. The distinctive values of
the Sicilians, such as their belief in private justice and
unwillingness to cooperate with the police, reinforced the idea of
a secret criminal society. From then on, many of Sicily's political
and social problems were attributed to this mythical
organisation.In the second part of the book, to illustrate the
general observations made in the first, Duggan provides a detailed
study of the repressive campaign conducted by the fascist
government against the mafia in the 1920s. Making use of private
papers, police files, and trial proceedings, he concludes that the
mafia was primarily an idea exploited for political ends, and that
its use only strengthened many Sicilians' deep mistrust of the
state. This lively book is a penetrating account of the origins of
the mafia myth and the first study of the impact of fascism on
Sicily. It will be of great interest to historians of modern Italy,
to anthropologists, and to criminologists, as well as to those who
are actively engaged in the fight against organised crime.
Christopher Duggan was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and
Lecturer in Italian History and Director of the Centre for the
Advanced Study of Italian Society at Reading University. He is
co-author, with Denis Mack Smith and Moses Finley, of 'A History of
Sicily' (1986).
Since its formation in 1861, Italy has struggled to develop an
effective political system and a secure sense of national identity.
This new edition of Christopher Duggan's acclaimed introduction
charts the country's history from the fall of the Roman Empire in
the west to the present day and surveys the difficulties Italy has
faced during the last two centuries in forging a nation state.
Duggan successfully weaves together political, economic, social and
cultural history, and stresses the alternation between materialist
and idealist programmes for forging a nation state. This second
edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to offer increased
coverage of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Italy, as well as a
new section devoted to Italy in the twenty-first century. With a
new, extensive bibliographical essay and a detailed chronology,
this is the ideal resource for those seeking an authoritative and
comprehensive introduction to Italian history.
Today Mussolini is remembered as a hated dictator who, along with
Hitler and Stalin, ushered in an era of totalitarian repression
unsurpassed in human history. But how was he viewed by ordinary
Italians during his lifetime?
In Fascist Voices, Christopher Duggan draws on thousands of
letters sent to Mussolini, as well as private diaries and other
primary documents, to show how Italian citizens lived and
experienced the fascist regime under Mussolini from 1922-1943.
Throughout the 1930s, Mussolini received about 1,500 letters a day
from Italian men and women of all social classes writing words of
congratulation, commiseration, thanks, encouragement, or entreaty
on a wide variety of occasions: his birthday and saint's day, after
he had delivered an important speech, on a major fascist
anniversary, when a husband or son had been killed in action. While
Duggan looks at some famous diaries-by such figures as the
anti-fascist constitutional lawyer Piero Calamandrei; the
philosopher Benedetto Croce; and the fascist minister Giuseppe
Bottai-the majority of the voices here come from unpublished
journals, diaries, and transcripts. Utilizing a rich collection of
untapped archival material, Duggan explores "the cult of Il Duce,"
the religious dimensions of totalitarianism, and the
extraordinarily intimate character of the relationship between
Mussolini and millions of Italians. Duggan shows that the figure of
Mussolini was crucial to emotional and political engagement with
the regime; although there was widespread discontent throughout
Italy, little of the criticism was directed at Il Duce himself.
Duggan argues that much of the regime's appeal lay in its capacity
to appropriate the language, values, and iconography of Roman
Catholicism, and that this emphasis on blind faith and emotion over
reason is what made Mussolini's Italy simultaneously so powerful
and so insidious.
Offering a unique perspective on the period, Fascist Voices
captures the responses of private citizens living under fascism and
unravels the remarkable mixture of illusions, hopes, and fears that
led so many to support the regime for so long.
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