Mussolini

Rating:
Summary: Second Rate
Review: Jasper Ridley offers the reader a facile biography of the Italian dictator. Though Benito Mussolini's youth and early adulthood as a radical intellectual are adequately explained, the analysis of Mussolini's rise is shallow. An internationalist socialist until just before World War One, he becomes an Italian nationalist with almost little explanation of why he changed other than his serving briefly as a draftee in the pre-1914 Italian Army. Surely, there is more to explain Mussolini's turnabout. The analysis of post-war Italy and it's ungovernability and social breakdown is weak. Was Italian democractic tradition inch-deep, ready to be exploited by an authoritarian? The Fascist economic system is barely mentioned. Mussolini's thoughts on Hitler's big gamble of sending troops to the demilitarized Rhineland in 1935 are not explained. How did Mussolini come to be the weaker of the two European right-wing authoritarians and did he acknowledge that Hitler dominated the political alliance between the two men? Why did the Italian army have problems defeating the primitive Ethiopian army in 1935-36? Or why did the small, woefully armed Greek army defeat the Italian army and chase it across the Albanian frontier? Why was Italy not ready for World War Two? This biography lacks analysis. More muscle is needed to fill out the man who was Benito Mussolini.

Rating:
Summary: Second Rate
Review: Jasper Ridley offers the reader a facile biography of the Italian dictator. Though Benito Mussolini's youth and early adulthood as a radical intellectual are adequately explained, the analysis of Mussolini's rise is shallow. An internationalist socialist until just before World War One, he becomes an Italian nationalist with almost little explanation of why he changed other than his serving briefly as a draftee in the pre-1914 Italian Army. Surely, there is more to explain Mussolini's turnabout. The analysis of post-war Italy and it's ungovernability and social breakdown is weak. Was Italian democractic tradition inch-deep, ready to be exploited by an authoritarian? The Fascist economic system is barely mentioned. Mussolini's thoughts on Hitler's big gamble of sending troops to the demilitarized Rhineland in 1935 are not explained. How did Mussolini come to be the weaker of the two European right-wing authoritarians and did he acknowledge that Hitler dominated the political alliance between the two men? Why did the Italian army have problems defeating the primitive Ethiopian army in 1935-36? Or why did the small, woefully armed Greek army defeat the Italian army and chase it across the Albanian frontier? Why was Italy not ready for World War Two? This biography lacks analysis. More muscle is needed to fill out the man who was Benito Mussolini.

Rating:
Summary: A good introduction to the "Duce"
Review: Jasper Ridley's biography of Mussolini does a good job of retelling the life of this ambitious but fatally flawed leader. Mussolini was no Hitler. Even had he desired it, he could never have established totalitarianism in Italy as the temperment of the Italian people simply would not have allowed it. Instead he was sort of like the neighborhood bully elevated to power. Threatening yes, but not truly evil. Had World War Two not happened, his fate probably would have been more similar to Spain's Franco, whose regime died of natural causes with him. The most interesting aspect of Mussolini's life was his transistion from socialism to fascism, but even this can be viewed as opportunism from a man with no real political convictions other than obtaining and maintaining power. Overall, this is a good introdution to the man who in the end got what he deserved from his own people.

Rating:
Summary: A good introduction to the "Duce"
Review: Jasper Ridley's biography of Mussolini does a good job of retelling the life of this ambitious but fatally flawed leader. Mussolini was no Hitler. Even had he desired it, he could never have established totalitarianism in Italy as the temperment of the Italian people simply would not have allowed it. Instead he was sort of like the neighborhood bully elevated to power. Threatening yes, but not truly evil. Had World War Two not happened, his fate probably would have been more similar to Spain's Franco, whose regime died of natural causes with him. The most interesting aspect of Mussolini's life was his transistion from socialism to fascism, but even this can be viewed as opportunism from a man with no real political convictions other than obtaining and maintaining power. Overall, this is a good introdution to the man who in the end got what he deserved from his own people.

Rating:
Summary: SHALLOW AND SUBJECTIVE
Review: This is not a comprehensive biography of Mussolini the man and politician. More a fragmentary story of the life of M. The process of ascension to power, the conversion of the socialist into the fascist, and the politics of the first ten years of consolidation are not really explored in their depth, as is now expected from a Duce's biography.
Moreover there are considerable gaps in the treatment of the pre-war years and the foundation of the Empire. Also, there are many subjective statements and personal appraisals of the author that do not correspond with the objective view of the modern historians about Mussolini. For instance, his position regarding the jewish question and the racial laws, is not objectively assessed, in its historical context. Also, Salo's period and Mussolini's uncomfortable relationship with the germans are not satisfactorily analyzed. For a more balanced and comprehensive one volume approach I would recommend professor Richard Bosworth's Biography of Mussolini. For truly in depth study, Renzo De Felice's books remain unsurpassed.

Rating:
Summary: SHALLOW AND SUBJECTIVE
Review: This is not a comprehensive biography of Mussolini the man and politician. More a fragmentary story of the life of M. The process of ascension to power, the conversion of the socialist into the fascist, and the politics of the first ten years of consolidation are not really explored in their depth, as is now expected from a Duce's biography.
Moreover there are considerable gaps in the treatment of the pre-war years and the foundation of the Empire. Also, there are many subjective statements and personal appraisals of the author that do not correspond with the objective view of the modern historians about Mussolini. For instance, his position regarding the jewish question and the racial laws, is not objectively assessed, in its historical context. Also, Salo's period and Mussolini's uncomfortable relationship with the germans are not satisfactorily analyzed. For a more balanced and comprehensive one volume approach I would recommend professor Richard Bosworth's Biography of Mussolini. For truly in depth study, Renzo De Felice's books remain unsurpassed.