Mussolini: The Last 600 Days of IL Duce [Hardcover]

Ray Moseley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2004

In his last days, Mussolini, the tyrant, was in the grip of anger, shame, and depression. The German armed forces that had sustained his puppet government since its creation in September 1943 were being inexorably driven out of Italy, the frontiers of his Fascist republic were shrinking daily and Mussolini was aware that German military leaders were negotiating with the Allies behind his back in neutral Switzerland. Moseley's well-researched and highly engaging tome throws light on the last twenty months of the despot's life and culminates with the dramatic capture and execution of Mussolini (and his mistress Claretta Petacci) by partisans of the Italian resistance on April 28, 1945.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With a lucid style and a well-paced narrative, Moseley chronicles how, while Hitler and Nazi Germany became more radical, Mussolini and Fascist Italy degenerated into chaos. Moseley, former chief European correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and author of a highly regarded biography of Mussolini's foreign minister and son-in-law, Galeazzo Ciano (Mussolini's Shadow), has written a welcome synthesis of the final months of the fascist regime, beginning in 1943. In doing so, he uncovers the venality, intrigue, corruption, treachery and barbarism of the Fascist and Nazi regimes. The day after the Allies invaded Sicily and made preparations for an invasion of the mainland while their planes were bombing Rome, Turin and Milan, Mussolini was deposed by King Victor Emmanuel III in a (for the time being) bloodless coup d'état. Moseley shows how Ciano was instrumental in this development and the tragic fate that awaited him. Mussolini is portrayed (accurately) as deflated, depressed and having come late to the realization that he had "ruined Italy." Moseley devotes chapters to the fate of the Roman Jews; the partisan underground; and wartime atrocities, (most of which are attributed to the Germans, thereby giving the false impression that Italian Fascists committed no war crimes). Moseley's telling of the theft of Mussolini's corpse and the return of a fragment of his brain reads like the plot of a bad horror film.
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Review

Moseley has a crack journalist's nose for the evocative quotation or the vivid fact that encapsulates a larger truth. (Simpson, Thomas Chicago Tribune )

A welcome synthesis of the final months of the facist regime, beginning in 1943. He uncovers the venality, intrigue, corruption, treachery and barbarism of the Facist and Nazi regimes. (Publishers Weekly )

Moseley discusses in remarkable detail, but with great readability and a swift narrative pace, the last 15 months of Italy's war. (R. J. Stone, The American Conservative )

Has elements of melodrama, of swashbuckling adventure, of tragedy and of comic opera. (Ap )

...his life, so splendidly captured, by Mosely... (Mario Szichman Goldsboro New-Argus )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing; First edition (June 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589790952
• ISBN-13: 978-1589790957
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #755,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best overview of Mussolini's downfall, January 5, 2008

By 

Lehigh History Student (Bethlehem, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Mussolini: The Last 600 Days of IL Duce (Hardcover)

Ray Moseley does an excellent job in bringing to light the final days of Italy under Mussolini. The Republic of Salo which is formed after the Nazi's free Mussolini from prison is a vague attempt to showcase that Italian people are still in control in Italy. As Moseley shows the Republic had no real power and Mussolini was consulted on almost nothing leaving the German military to run the state. The book jumps around on many topics and discusses Mussolini's stances on a variety of issues from anti-semitism to law and order in the fascist decrees he issued during this republic. The final fall of Mussolini and his capture amongst the mountains of lake Como are very well done and then the final part focuses on various myths related to Mussolini. While the book bounces around it is a great contribution to the last 600 days (594 to be exact) of Mussolini's empire and the tragic fall of Italy's most powerful leader.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Operatic tragedy, January 27, 2005

By 

MAJ ,jr "MAJ, jr" (Detroit) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mussolini: The Last 600 Days of IL Duce (Hardcover)

The best yet on this phase of the war...

... More extensive review to follow soon.

4 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good to see the Italian side of WWII, September 3, 2004

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mussolini: The Last 600 Days of IL Duce (Hardcover)

As I listen to the nightly news about our own Governments actions, I find it interesting to read about others. Ours certainly does a bunch of stupid stuff. But then you look at what others do and have to agree with Churchill that a democracy is the worst form of government except that all the other forms are worse.

In this book on the last 600 days of Mussolini, you get a very clear illustration of this point. In his last days, Mussolini was a tyrant, yet at the same time he was utterly miserable in the grip of anger, shame and depression. The German forces that had been supporting were being driven from Italy by the Americans and British.

Mussolini had had the power, as it was said, "he made the trains run on time." But in the end he had failed, and he knew he had failed. He had tried to run a country. And he made some tragic errors. We have so many books on Hitler, it is nice to see that finally we are beginning to see what happened in another aspect of WWII.

I was also amused to see the points of controversy that remain sixty years later. I guess that like the killing of Lincoln and Kennery, and events like Pearl Harbour and the World Trade Center, mysteries will always remain.