About this item
An incisive account of how Mussolini pioneered populism in reaction to Hitler's rise - and thereby reinforced his role as a model for later authoritarian leaders. "A passionately engaged history of a Mussolini and an Italy caught up in the monstrous gravitational waves engendered by the coming of Third Reich." - Giuseppe Finaldi, author of Mussolini and Italian Fascism. On the tenth anniversary of his rise to power in 1932, Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) seemed to many the "good dictator." He was the first totalitarian and the first fascist in modern Europe. But a year later Hitler's entrance onto the political stage signaled a German takeover of the fascist ideology. In this definitive account, eminent historian R.J.B. Bosworth charts Mussolini's leadership in reaction to Hitler.
About the Author
This is my cv (and, of course, as my books show, I love writing and am pretty fond of Italy, one Italy or other, that is. CURRICULUM VITAE OF RICHARD JAMES BOON BOSWORTHBorn: 7 December 1943, Sydney1960 Dux, SCEGS, North Sydney1965 BA 1st Class Honours, University of Sydney1965-6 Teaching Fellow, University of Sydney1966-9 Commonwealth Scholar to the UK based at St. John's College, Cambridge1967 MA 1st Class Honours, University of Sydney1969 Lecturer in History, University of Sydney1971 PhD, University of Cambridge1973-9 Editor of Teaching History, journal of the NSW History Teachers' Federation.1975 Senior Lecturer in History, University of Sydney1981 Associate Professor in History, University of Sydney1981-5 Deputy Director, F. May Foundation for Italian Studies1982-3 ; 1986 Acting Director, F. May Foundation for Italian Studies1985 Appointed to the Chair in History, University of Western Australia (taken up on 1 January 1987-November 2011) 1988-1990 Head of Department1991- (July to October) Visiting Research Fellow, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University1992 (January to August) Visiting Overseas Scholar, St John's College, Cambridge.1993-7 Member, Editorial Board, International History Review1993- Member, Editorial Board, Contemporary European Studies Association of AustraliaMember, Editorial Board, Convivio: a Journal of Italian Studies; Editorial advisor, Modern Italy.1995-7 Staff elected member, UWA Senate; 1995- Fellow, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia; Fellow, Australian Academy of the Humanities.1997-8 Visiting Fellow, Clare Hall, Cambridge from November 1997 to July 1998.1998 Elected Life Member, Clare Hall.2000 (March) Visiting Fellow Italian Academy, Columbia University.2002 (January-May) Visiting Fellow, Balliol College, Oxford.Member board International Commission for the History of Travel and Tourism.Member Editorial board History Compass; accorded Australian Centenary Medal 'for services to history and the humanities'; won the overall Western Australian Premier's prize for literature and that for non-fiction, as well as the National History Prize, given by the Queensland government (for my biography of Mussolini) .2003 Converted to being research professor, UWA.2004 Visiting Professor, University of Trento, Italy (February to June) .2004-5 Full Year Visiting Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford.2007-2011 Shared 0.5 professorships in History Departments at Reading University, U.K. and the University of Western Australia (Winthrop professor) .2009- Member editorial board History Australia; elected honorary member of the Modern European History Research Centre at Oxford University.2011- Made Emeritus Professor at the University of Western Australia.2011-7 Senior Research Fellow, Jesus College, Oxford (re-elected 2013) ..Publications:a) Books:1. Benito Mussolini and the Fascist Destruction of Liberal Italy, 1900-1
