Mussolini

By: Jasper Ridley

Narrated by: Nadia May

Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Historian Jasper Ridley brings us this comprehensive biography of the man who invented fascism, Benito Mussolini, widely regarded as one of the arch villains of the 20th century.

A complex and contradictory figure, Mussolini won the fascination of many statesmen and writers, and their wives. From his early years raised in the traditions of revolutionary Italian Socialism, to his violent execution by Communist partisans at the end of World War II, we watch Mussolini's power ambitions erode his political ideals, as he evolves from brilliant orator and journalist to empire-building dictator enforcing his authority by death squads.

A man initially praised and admired by such Western luminaries as Winston Churchill, or underestimated as a posturing buffoon, Mussolini eventually showed his true colors as a racist and persecutor of the Jews. He sought equal stature with Hitler, but his alliance with him would prove disastrous. Ridley's account of this unforgettable 20th-century figure is even-handed and indispensable.

©1997 Jasper Ridley (P)1998 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"[A] well-researched, articulate, journalistic account." (School Library Journal)
"Packer shows himself once more to be the best chronicler, apart perhaps from John Burns of the New York Times, that the conflict has produced." (Publishers Weekly)
"It is a pleasure to find a work that strives for balance, fairness, and understanding in surveying the causes and course of the ongoing Iraqi war....This is a troubling but deeply moving examination." (Booklist)

Very interesting!

What did you love best about Mussolini?

I teach American college students in Italy occasionally and this has been a great resource in learning to understand Italy. This is a serious biography that provides a reasonably balanced view of Mussolini. He wasn't a clown or a monster, but a deeply troubled man who did very bad things to Italy. Ridley is convincing that his biggest character flaw was wanting to choose winners -- and his biggest mistake, of course, was betting that Hitler was a winner.

Any additional comments?

I love Nadia May as a reader . . . but the book is the point!

Interesting, but not captivating

This is my first review, so I will keep it short and come right to the point.

I had just finished the huge, unabridged "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by W. Shirer, read by Grover Gardner. I had read this book before and finished the audiobook mostly during my commute to work and on weekends, over a period of several weeks if not months. Mr. Gardner is the perfect speaker for this book and I was captivated from the first page all the way through to the end.

I decided to look up the life of Mussolini to complement my knowledge about the period, and found Jasper Ridley's book. But right from the start, I was feeling uneasy and somewhat disinterested in the narrative, and without having read the book beforehand, I can't quite put my finger on why.

I simply can't be pulled into the story. I can listen to it for a few minutes or half an hour, and never feel bad switching it off and waiting for another opportunity to continue. In particular, the first half of the book feels like a long sequence of snapshots glued together, as much as one may feel by reading several pages of chronologically sorted proverbs and bonmots. Interesting facts, but not much coherence. It does get better from the 1930's onwards. The other issue is that Nadia May's style of reading just adds, or perhaps creates, this feeling of detachment. I'm sure that if read by Mr. Gardner, some of the flaws of the original text might bave been covered up. There is very little in Ms May's voice that keeps me alert. Add to that some issues with a background hiss that is present during the reading, but disappears between paragraphs. This emphasizes the "glued together" quality of the reading, it goes "hissssss...silence...hissssss...silence" all the time, giving the impression that each paragraph of the book has been recorded separately and later edited together.

I will probably buy the book on paper to check the reason why I'm not delighted with this recording.

Informative read!

Very important to read this book, giving an understanding of how Fascism grew and lead a country into War.

Great look at the Italian leader

This book not only gives a great look at the Italian leader but also the relationship between the governments and the development of Fascism.
How Socialist Communist leads to the start of Fascism and the events causing world war 2.

Not as detailed as other WW2 leaders bios.

It seemed to flow naturally through his life, although they didn't spend a lot of time at the milestones like one might expect. All and all, a decent story about Italian facism during that era. I still don't feel like I know Mussulini any better now than I did before.

Informative

Good book on a leader of the times who has often been overshadowed by his contemporaries. It was a sufficient length to tell the story of Mussolini without losing details or being too lengthy. Though some reviewers were critical of the reader, I grew to like her the more I listened to the book.

THE AUTHOR TOPPLED OVER

I'm only a little over half way through with this biography and this is only my first
observation. I will update it if my opinion changes further into the book.
This author leans sooooo far to the left that he fell off his socialist soapbox.
Mussolini was deeply into the European socialist movement in his early career
and Ridley seems to be an apologist for anything "The Pig" Mussolini did.

I am hoping this author becomes more objective as the bio continues. If so, I
will certainly update my review. But I seriously doubt it.

horrible reading

stale tale narrated poorly.
wouldn't recommend to hear the narrator on any book. simply disappointing narrative on such a n historic figure

Mussolini and Fascism Beyond Caricature

This biography was well presented by Nadia May and exceptionally well written by Jasper Ridley. The outstanding quality of the book is not just its development of Mussolini as an individual, which we would expect from a good biography, but the demonstration of the development of the philosophy of fascism over time. Clearly fascism was not just one set of ideas. It was an evolving belief system finding its genesis in Mussolini’s rejection of international socialism because of its failure to unite the working class across Europe in the autumn of 1914. From there fascism evolved as the personal beliefs of Mussolini adapted to Italian politics and international social, political, economic and military circumstances. Jasper Ridley brought these diverse variables together exceptionally well. This is clearly a book worth reading for those who seek to understand who Mussolini was and what fascism truly represented rather than what the contemporary American caricature suggests.