Volume 27, Number 7 · May 1, 1980
The Great Benito?
By Denis Mack Smith
Young Mussolini and the Intellectual Origins of Fascism
by A. James Gregor
University of California Press, 271 pp., $16.50
Italian Fascism and Developmental Dictatorship
by A. James Gregor
Princeton University Press, 427 pp., $9.75 (paper)
Sergio Panunzio: il sindacalismo ed il fondamento razionale del fascismo
by A. James Gregor
Volpe editore (Rome), 327 pp., 5,000 lire
The word 'fascism' is used in so many senses that much of its utility has been lost. The term 'Italian fascism' is more precise, but can still present problems to anyone looking for a convincing and comprehensive definition. Professor Gregor is not daunted by these difficulties; in three much overlapping books he examines the ideology of Italian fascism and comes to the striking conclusion that it was one of the most consistent ideologies of our time, entirely coherent, with 'intellectual credentials as compelling as any.' He sees Mussolini as not just a successful politician, but as a sophisticated political thinker who anticipated most of the problems exercising us today and whose thought has significantly influenced European history ever since his death in 1945.
Review, 2509 words
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