<p>Although the Sicilian Mafia is a subject of endless fascination, few serious books have been written about it. In this provocative work, Christopher Duggan argues that the idea of the Sicilian Mafia is a fiction, born of political calculation and genuine misunderstanding of the behavior of Sicilians.  The book consists of two parts. The first looks at the development of the idea of the Mafia from the 1860s, when the term first appeared,  to the Second World War. Duggan explains that while all serious observers in Sicily realized that there was no organized criminal society in Sicily, there were several reasons why the idea was perpetuated. One was that when Sicily became part of unified Italy in 1860, hostility to the new state was claimed by officials to be criminally inspired, and they spoke for the first time of 'the Mafia.' From then on, man of Sicily's political and social problems were attributed to this mythical organization. A second reason for a mafia mythology was that Sicilian society had different values from other parts of Italy. Sicilian belief in private justice and their unwillingness to cooperate with the police reinforced the idea of a secret criminal organization. The second part of the book is a detailed study of the repressive campaign conducted by the fascist government against the Mafia in the 1920s.  Making use of private papers, police files, and trial proceedings, Duggan concludes that the Mafia was largely an idea exploited for political ends, and that its use only reinforced the deep mistrust that many Sicilians had of the state. Duggan's book―which is also the first study of the impact of fascism in Sicily―indicates why there was so much hostility to fascism there in the later years of the regime Duggan’s lively and original book will be of great interest to historians of modern Italy, to anthropologists, and to criminologists, and well as to those who are actively engaged in the fight against organized crime.</p>

Fascism and the Mafia

History

Christopher Duggan

Americas

Yale University Press

<p>A history of the small but significant island of Sicily discusses the cultural mix left as a legacy by the civilizations who have dominated the island in the past and the progressive material impoverishment that the island has suffered</p>

A History of Sicily

M. I. Finley

Denis Mack Smith

Viking Adult

Today Mussolini is remembered as a hated dictator who, along with Hitler and Stalin, ushered in an era of totalitarian repression unsurpassed in human history. But how was he viewed by ordinary Italians during his lifetime?  In Fascist Voices, Christopher Duggan draws on thousands of letters sent to Mussolini, as well as private diaries and other primary documents, to show how Italian citizens lived and experienced the fascist regime under Mussolini from 1922-1943. Throughout the 1930s, Mussolini received about 1,500 letters a day from Italian men and women of all social classes writing words of congratulation, commiseration, thanks, encouragement, or entreaty on a wide variety of occasions: his birthday and saint's day, after he had delivered an important speech, on a major fascist anniversary, when a husband or son had been killed in action. While Duggan looks at some famous diaries-by such figures as the anti-fascist constitutional lawyer Piero Calamandrei; the philosopher Benedetto Croce; and the fascist minister Giuseppe Bottai-the majority of the voices here come from unpublished journals, diaries, and transcripts. Utilizing a rich collection of untapped archival material, Duggan explores "the cult of Il Duce," the religious dimensions of totalitarianism, and the extraordinarily intimate character of the relationship between Mussolini and millions of Italians. Duggan shows that the figure of Mussolini was crucial to emotional and political engagement with the regime; although there was widespread discontent throughout Italy, little of the criticism was directed at Il Duce himself. Duggan argues that much of the regime's appeal lay in its capacity to appropriate the language, values, and iconography of Roman Catholicism, and that this emphasis on blind faith and emotion over reason is what made Mussolini's Italy simultaneously so powerful and so insidious.  Offering a unique perspective on the period, Fascist Voices captures the responses of private citizens living under fascism and unravels the remarkable mixture of illusions, hopes, and fears that led so many to support the regime for so long.

Fascist Voices: An Intimate History of Mussolini's Italy

Europe

Bodley Head

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Books by Christopher Duggan