A History of Italian Fascist Culture, 1922–1943

Alessandra Tarquini, Marissa Gemma

• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780299336202
• eBook ISBN: 9780299336288
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Italian History
• Index: History

Alessandra Tarquini's A History of Italian Fascist Culture, 1922–1943 is widely recognized as an authoritative synthesis of the field. The book was published to much critical acclaim in 2011 and revised and expanded five years later. This long-awaited translation presents Tarquini's compact, clear prose to readers previously unable to read it in the original Italian.
 
Tarquini sketches the universe of Italian fascism in three broad directions: the regime's cultural policies, the condition of various art forms and scholarly disciplines, and the ideology underpinning the totalitarian state. She details the choices the ruling class made between 1922 and 1943, revealing how cultural policies shaped the country and how intellectuals and artists contributed to those decisions. The result is a view of fascist ideology as a system of visions, ideals, and, above all, myths capable of orienting political action and promoting a precise worldview.
 
Building on George L. Mosse's foundational research, Tarquini provides the best single-volume work available to fully understand a complex and challenging subject. It reveals how the fascists used culture—art, cinema, music, theater, and literature—to build a conservative revolution that purported to protect the traditional social fabric while presenting itself as maximally oriented toward the future.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface to the English-Language Edition
• Introduction
• 1. The Historiographical Debate from 1945 to Today
• 2. Cultural Politics in the 1920s
• 3. Intellectuals and Artists in the 1920s
• 4. The Ideology of the Totalitarian State
• 5. Cultural Politics in the 1930s
• 6. Intellectuals and Artists in the 1930s
• 7. Cultural Politics and Intellectuals in the 1940s
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Index