Here you will find some of the best reading for the Italy course divided into the four key topics. All books have links to either Amazon or eBay. Any book with an * means we have a copy that you can potentially borrow. Please ask the department for further recommendations.
Key Topic 1: The Liberal State, c1911-18
Absolom, Roger (1995). Italy Since 1800: A Nation in Balance? Abingdon: Routledge. - Chapter 3 gives a long term explanation of the weaknesses and failures of Liberal Italy alongside the attempts to improve that situation.
*Clark, Martin (1996). Modern Italy, 1871-1995. Abingdon: Routledge. - Chapter 5 is particularly useful for its explanation of the differing political groupings in Italy in the early years of the twentieth century. Chapter 9 is essential for understanding Italy's role in the First World War and its impact.
Dunnage, Jonathan (2003). Twentieth Century History: A Social History. Abington: Routledge. - Provides an interesting summary of the economic, social and politcal issues facing Italy at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Grand, Alexander de (2000). Italian Fascism: Its Origins & Development. Lincoln: Nebraska University Press. - Chapter 1 is an excellent but brief summary of the political and economic developments in the years prior to the fascist takeover.
Key Topic 2: The rise of Mussolini and the creation of a Fascist dictatorship. 1919-26
Lyttelton, Adrian (2002). Liberal and Fascist Italy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Chapters 2 and 3 provide an easy to read summary of the events leading from the First World War to Mussolini's seizure of power.
Duggan, Christopher (2012). Fascist Voices: An Intimate History of Mussolini's Italy. New York: Vintage. - This book tells the story of fascism's rise through the voices and diaries of those who experienced it. Chapter 3 and 4 are particularly relevant to Key Topic 2.
*Smith, Denis Mack (1994). Mussolini. London: Phoenix - The Mussolini who emerges from Denis Mack Smith's outstanding political biography is the supreme opportunist, more actor than statesman, with policies shaped chiefly by events. Mack Smith's compelling narrative follows this destiny to its infamous conclusion: the collapse of Mussolini's nation, and the destruction of its leader.
Pollard, John (1998). The Fascist Experience in Italy. Abingdon: Routledge. - Chapter 2 is particularly useful as an introduction to the turmoil of this period.
Key Topic 3: The Fascist State, 1925-40
Bosworth, Richard (2006). Mussolini's Italy: Life under the Dictatorship. London: Penguin. - A highly accessible account of the lives of ordinary Italians under the Fascist regime. Chapter 9 is relevant for Key Topic 3.
Clark, Martin (1996). Modern Italy, 1871-1995. Abingdon: Routledge. - Chapter 12 on the quest for consensus in the Fascist State is very useful for Key Topic 3.
Evans, David (2003). Years of Liberalism and Fascism. London: Hodder Education. - A detailed and accessible textbook that covers the whole period within the module. Chapters 8-10 are good for Key Topic 3.
Key Topic 4: Challenges to and the fall of the Fascist State, c1935-46
Ciano, Galeazzo (2002). The War Diaries of Count Galeazzo Ciano, 1939-1943. London: Penguin. - Mussolini's Foreign Minister, and son in law, Count Ciano kept one of the most important and influential diaries to come out of World War II. These are those diaries. Covering events from 1939 until 1943, finishing days before his own execution by a firing squad for conspiring against his father in law.
Duggan, Christopher (2012). Fascist Voices: An Intimate History of Mussolini's Italy. New York: Vintage - Chapters 11-13 tell the story of Italy's entry into the Second World War and the disaster that ensued. Duggan's use of first hand accounts make this a compelling read.
Mallett, Robert (2003). Mussolini and the Origins of the Second World War. London: Palgrave. - Looks in detail at Italy's entry into the Second World War. The opening chapter on Mussolini and Hitler's relationship is particularly recommended.
Morgan, Philip (2008) The Fall of Mussolini: Italy, the Italians, and the Second World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - This deals entirely with the Second World War and the fall of Mussolini largely through the experience of ordinary Italians.