Galeazzo Ciano: The Fascist Pretender
© 2021
Building on extensive archival research and important scholarly analysis, Galeazzo Ciano: The Fascist Pretender examines the life of Galeazzo Ciano, foreign minister of fascist Italy from 1936 to 1943 and Benito Mussolini’s son-in-law. Ciano’s life serves as the lens through which we gain a better understanding of crucial issues of Italian and European fascism, including the fascistization of society and politics, foreign relations, and the problem of succession. In order to accomplish this, the biography follows an innovative thematic structure that focuses on major aspects of Ciano’s life, including his family, his political career, his diplomacy, and his desire to succeed Mussolini.
Filling a substantial gap in the existing literature on the history of fascism, this is the first comprehensive analysis of a key player of Italian fascism other than Mussolini; it also offers a long overdue critical assessment of Ciano’s famous diary, one of the most important texts from the period. Using visual materials such as photographs and films as sources and not just as illustrative material, Tobias Hof allows us to rethink our understanding of fascism and offers a new perspective on the history of fascist Italy.
Product Details
- Series: Toronto Italian Studies
- World Rights
- Page Count: 456 pages
- Illustrations: 21
- Dimensions: 6.0in x 1.0in x 9.0in
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Author Information
Tobias Hof is a Privatdozent for Modern History at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität. -
Table of contents
List of Illustrations
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction
1. The Family
The Son of a Hero
The Ciano Family in Livorno
Ciano’s Friends
The Fascist Family
Shaping Italian Society2. The Politician
The Minister
The Fascist
The Elite
The Catholic and Monarchist
The Fascist Oligarchy3. The Diplomat
Italy’s Role in the World
Diplomacy and Performance
Parallel and Secret Diplomacy
Blackmail, Terror, and War
Assessing Fascist Italy’s Foreign Diplomacy4. The Successor
The Deputy Duce
Fascist Masculinities: Ciano versus Mussolini
The Undecided One
The “Good Fascist”
Succession and Struggle in FascismEpilogue: A Man of His Time
Appendix
Chronology
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Index
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Subjects and Courses