Customer Reviews

Mussolini's Shadow: The Double Life of Count Galeazzo Ciano

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful book. I will probably read it twice, because it is literature as well as history. But is must have been a very tricky book to write. Every person who appears has good reasons to make up lies or shade meanings in discussing or recording the historic events recounted in the book.

It is an amazing cast of characters: Count Ciano, his wife Edda Mussolini, Emilio Pucci, Ciano's many mistresses including at least one German spy, Benito Mussolini, Claretta Petacci, various high party officials from the Fascist era, Hitler, Goebbels, Ribbentrop, Goering, Roosevelt, Churchill -- and Allen Dulles and many other spies.

What you get is essentially a work of fiction, contrived variously by each of the many characters. But it works. The author has arranged the material in such a careful way that you can reconstruct for yourself, from the progression of this deeply researched story, what the real truth might have been. It would be hard to say if the net effect is precisely Shakespearean or Freudian, but this book is certainly a page turner.

Count Ciano seems to have been a born actor, a sort of human putty who could mould himself to suit every situation. It was a wonderful skill for a professional diplomat. He was Mussolini's son in law and benefited enormously from his family connection. (Mussolini appears to have benefited from the relationship as well, perhaps in material ways which are not at all clear, but it is clear that Ciano was no mere sycophant).

Ciano was instrumental in deposing Mussolini in 1943, and this work cost him his life. Withal he was not an admirable man, but one cannot help but admire his style, his self-interested drive, his wry intelligence and his physical courage. He had a sense of humor and he was a hedonist in the European manner. He liked golf, whiskey, courtship, warplanes, intrigue and conversation. There is a whole lot of sex in this book. Not overtly, but it is sort of like a motor running somewhere just offstage. It never stops and it tugs the story this way and that. For an English or American reader, this biography offers the first good look at Count Ciano we have ever had. Sixty years after the fact.

Moseley has written a readable and well researched book on the life of the enigmatic Count Ciano. It is certainly the first comprehensive study of Ciano to appear in English. Ciano is worthy of the attention of anyone interested in Twentieth Century Europe, diplomacy, or World War II. Moseley does a good job of revealing Ciano's evolution from a blind follower of Mussolini to active and effective foil. There can be little doubt that in anything less than an unrestricted dictatorship, Ciano's efforts to keep Italy out of WWII would have succeeded. In the end Ciano's undisguished contempt of the Nazi Heirarchy cost him his life. I recommend this book as a precursor to reading Ciano's diary.

This is a superb read and Mr Mosely coveres an intensely complex period with majesty and skill. Here and there it is a bit difficult who the subject is of a sentence, as the relative pronoun sometimes doesn't come after the immediately preceding subject of a sentence, but that happens rarely. Mr Moseley's reads like a thriller, but at the same time is a thoroughly researched, critical reading of a tragic, through fascinating period of history. I cannot recommend this book more highly for anyone interested obviously in history, but also for those interested in human behviour and our ability to deceive and contradict ourselves. Do read!

Mr. Moseley provides an even-handed review of Ciano; a most complex individual who was a bundle of contradictions. He neither makes him a saint or paints him a villian and attempts to show him in the particular milieu of his time. In the process the reader gains valuable insight into not only the political process of the time but also into the natures of some of the most powerful participants on the world stage of that time, especially Mussolini and Hitler.

I had some respect for Ciano before I read this, thinking he was the conscience of the Italian people. In getting to know Ciano by reading this book I realized that he was a mirrow image of IL Duce, including the womanizing part. His wife, Duce's daughter, was just as vain and an equally sorry figure. The author does a splendid job of researching old documents, talking to some of the older survivors and friends for first hand info.

This is a good book and Mr. Moseley is to be congratulated on a decent job. He has done his research and provided a vivid account of Ciano and the people around him. I do not give this book five stars, however, because it needs editing. It seems in some places Mr. Moseley loses his strong narrative as he relates diary entry after diary entry - seemingly with little connection. Also, the book could have used a glossary containing the names of the principal players in the Italian fascist government. These faults lie not with Mr. Moseley as much as with his editor/publisher. Nevertheless, I rcommend this book as one that provides a fascinating slice of WWII history.

There are three extraordinary characters in this tale, all related: Mussolini, his daughter Edda, and son-in-law and foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano. The actions of all of them profoundly affected the course of Italian policies before and during World War II. Mussolini and Ciano resembled each other in many ways; both were clever, pompous, impulsive, mercurial, emotional, corrupt, contradictory, and unpredictable. Their initially close relationship ended in hatred, betrayal and death.

Ray Mosely weaves the intricacies of their story, and that of many secondary players, together with skill and well documented detail. Fact, in this instance, is truly more fascinating than fiction could ever be. An exciting historical study in every respect.

The available literature on Ciano is scant, and I've found few scholarly reviews of Moseley's book. It's therefore difficult to rate the book, at least in terms of its historical claims. Giving it the benefit of the doubt, I've rated it 4 stars.

However, the book does contain at least one glaring historical error, which might lead one to wonder about its overall level of accuracy:

Moseley refers to Rudolf Hess's famous flight to Scotland in 1941 as an "eccentric defection" and "a great blow to the regime."

Both of these claims are preposterous. Hess was one of Hitler's most loyal followers from beginning to end and even at the Nuremberg Trials referred to Hitler as "Germany's shining prince" or something quite similar.

Although Hess's motivation can't be known with certainty, it's well-documented that the intention of his flight was to try to convince the British to join the Germans against the Russians and/or to present certain secret peace proposals. One theory has it that the flight was made with Hitler's blessing, with the understanding that it would be disavowed if Hess's efforts backfired (which they did). It's of course possible that Hess took it entirely upon himself to make the flight, but there's not a shred of evidence that 'defection' was ever on his mind.

Moreover, while perhaps an embarrassment to Hitler's regime, Hess's fiasco certainly can't be accurately characterized as a "great blow to the regime." It was little more than a footnote to an epic tragedy.

This is truly one of the most disturbing stories in World War 2. Ciano would become the epitome of everything hated in Italy. He would claim responsibility for the invasion of Albania and Greece and blamed for some of the worst defeats in Italy's history. Much of this is undeserved as Mussolini was calling many of the shots and the fall out between the two became apparent. Had Ciano been stronger and not captured under the personality cult of Mussolini the break would have been bigger and he would have opposed the war shattering the Duce ideas of a strong Italian army. The diaries that Ciano wrote would be key aspects of Nuremberg and both the allies and axis sought to acquire them. The story of the acquisition is heart wrenching and Edda Ciano's bravery is truly remarkable. What she went through from the execution of her husband to the estrangement of her father Mussolini was simply amazing. This is a must read for those who want to understand how World War 2 unfolded and the war that Italy played. It is a well written biography and truly a great addition to the historiography.