Fascist Italy

Fascist Italy is an informative work which analyzes and brings together the two fundamental aspects of the Fascist Italian experience: its history and its ideology. Author Cristogianni Borsella superbly explains the background of the Fascist movement, revealing in detail its corresponding political nature; this was possible because Borsella has made Benito Mussolini part of the narrative. The reader quickly becomes aware that Fascism is the logical but chaotic brainchild of Mussolini himself—a restless man in search of messianic visions to allay his own insecurities and of those of his nation. Borsella exposes other individuals who were instrumental in forming the ideological foundations of Fascism, namely Sorel, Vilfredo and Gentile. Groups like the syndicalists, interventionists, and neoconservatives influenced Italian politics long before there were American counterparts. The book’s greatest strength may show how the extreme Left played vital roles in shaping Fascism, as Mussolini himself had been a devout Socialist