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Podcast: New Books in Italian Studies
Episode: R. J. B. Bosworth, "Mussolini and the Eclipse of Italian Fascism: From Dictatorship to Populism" (Yale UP, 2021)
Description: A new and incisive account of how Mussolini pioneered policies which we would not label ‘populism’ in reaction to Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 —and thereby reinforced his role as a model for later authoritarian leadersOn 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, Professor of History R.J.B. Bosworth...