Fascist Voices: An Intimate History of Mussolini's Italy

Using vast archives of letters sent to the fascist leader of Italy during his tenure from 1922 to 1943, as well as portions of unpublished diaries, Duggan (modern Italian history, Univ. of Reading; The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796) explores why the totalitarian Mussolini experienced such long and widespread support in his country. Duggan interweaves these primary-source excerpts into a readable narrative, which includes a discussion of why this topic has largely gone unexplored by scholars of Italian history. In postwar Italy, there was no cycle of trials and retribution, together with the sense of some healing, as there was in Germany. Many of Italy's civil servants under Mussolini stayed in their positions in the aftermath of World War II. Duggan also notes the unique role of the Catholic Church in Mussolini's own rhetoric, which reinforced iconographies familiar to Italians. The Catholic Church, needless to say, remained a strong component of the post-fascist Italian state. Italians with fascist sympathies to this day flock to Mussolini's grave.