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A brilliant young historian follows the odyssey of Mussolini's body in an original exploration of the history and legacy of Italian Fascism
Mussolini's Corpse and the Fortunes of Italy
Metropolitan Books
August 2005
272 pages
ISBN: 0805066462
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
Bullet-ridden, spat on, butchered bloody: this was the fate
of Il Duce, strung up beside his dead mistress in a Milan
square, as reviled in death as he was adored in life. With
Italy's defeat in World War II, the cult of Benito
Mussolini's physical self was brought to its grotesque
denouement by a frenzied, jeering crowd of thousands-one
eerily similar to the cheering throngs that had once roared
their approval beneath Il Duce's balcony. In this groundbreaking work, Sergio Luzzatto traces the
fortunes of the Fascist dictator's body: from his charisma,
virility, and magnetic domination of Fascist parades, to
his humiliating execution, the ugly display of his remains,
and beyond. Buried, exhumed, stolen, and hidden for ten
years, Il Duce's corpse was finally laid to rest, a shrine
for fanatical followers. Through this pursuit, Luzzatto
shows how in a totalitarian state the body of the ruler
comes to incarnate the nation. And from the indignities
visited on Mussolini's corpse, Luzzatto crafts a subtle
social and intellectual history of a country struggling to
become a republic and free itself from the thrall of
Fascism. Elegantly written and stunningly conceived, alive with
never-before-published letters, diaries, and reports, The
Body of Il Duce cuts a new and compelling path through
twentieth-century history.
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