Giuseppe Mazzini and the Origins of Fascism

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Simon Levis Sullam

   Pages 1-9

3. Giuseppe Mazzini and the Religion of the Nation

   • Simon Levis Sullam

   Pages 11-29

4. From Poetry to Prose

   • Simon Levis Sullam

   Pages 31-47

5. Mazzini in the New Century

   • Simon Levis Sullam

   Pages 49-67

6. The Nation’s Duties between War and Postwar

   • Simon Levis Sullam

   Pages 69-86

7. Fascism, Antifascism, and the Religion of the Nation

   • Simon Levis Sullam

   Pages 87-106

8. Conclusion

   • Simon Levis Sullam

   Pages 107-111

9. Afterword

   • Simon Levis Sullam

   Pages 113-120

10. Back Matter

    Pages 121-206

    PDF

This controversial and groundbreaking study proposes a compelling reinterpretation of the political thought of one Italy's founding fathers, Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872), and in the process suggests a new approach to understanding the origins of fascist ideology.

• democracy
• fascism
• ideology
• Italy
• nation
• political thought
• Risorgimento

"Simon Levis Sullam has brilliantly recast the great nineteenth-century figure of Mazzini, emphasizing the authoritarian elements in his thinking and their connection to twentieth-century Italian fascism. His book illuminates the roots of fascist ideology while also offering us a compelling portrait of the man in his own times. Readers concerned with contemporary Italy's failure to develop a democratic civil religion and a viable sense of nationhood will also find much to ponder here." - Walter L. Adamson, Dobbs Professor of History, Emory University, USA

"This astute and carefully researched study offers a major contribution to our understanding not only of Mazzini's political ideas but also to the history of the Risorgimento and Italian national movement in general. By highlighting the authoritarian, religious, and illiberal elements in Mazzini's frequently inchoate thinking, Levis Sullam shows the powerful influence that the so-called 'prophet of unification' exerted posthumouslyon the political currents that fed the country's eventual slide into fascist totalitarianism." - Christopher Duggan, Professor of Modern Italian History, University of Reading, UK

Simon Levis Sullam is an Associate Professor of Modern History at Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Italy. He has been an Andrew W. Mellon Postodctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, USA; a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute, Italy; and a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK.

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