| Intellectuals -- Italy -- Biography. |
| Fascism -- Italy -- History -- 20th century. |
| Anti-fascist movements -- Italy -- History -- 20th century. |
| Intelligentsia |
| Anti-fascist resistance |
| Antifascist movements |
| Underground, Anti-fascist |
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Searching... Attleboro Public Library | 945.091 MOO | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Dartmouth - Southworth | 945.091 MOO 2017 | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
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Searching... Mansfield Public Library | XX(2462988.1) | NEW NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Mansfield Public Library | 945.091 ROSSELLI | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice
The acclaimed author of A Train in Winter and Village of Secrets delivers the next chapter in "The Resistance Quartet": the astonishing story of the aristocratic Italian family who stood up to Mussolini's fascism, and whose efforts helped define the path of Italy in the years between the World Wars--a profile in courage that remains relevant today.
Members of the cosmopolitan, cultural aristocracy of Florence at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Rosselli family, led by their fierce matriarch, Amelia, were vocal anti-fascists. As populist, right-wing nationalism swept across Europe after World War I, and Italy's Prime Minister, Benito Mussolini, began consolidating his power, Amelia's sons Carlo and Nello led the opposition, taking a public stand against Il Duce that few others in their elite class dared risk. When Mussolini established a terrifying and brutal police state controlled by his Blackshirts--the squaddristi--the Rossellis and their anti-fascist circle were transformed into active resisters.
In retaliation, many of the anti-fascists were arrested and imprisoned; others left the country to escape a similar fate. Tragically, Carlo and Nello were eventually assassinated by Mussolini's secret service. After Italy entered World War II in June 1940, Amelia, thanks to visas arranged by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt herself, fled to New York City with the remaining members of her family.
Renowned historian Caroline Moorehead paints an indelible picture of Italy in the first half of the twentieth century, offering an intimate account of the rise of Il Duce and his squaddristi; life in Mussolini's penal colonies; the shocking ambivalence and complicity of many prominent Italian families seduced by Mussolini's promises; and the bold, fractured resistance movement whose associates sacrificed their lives to fight fascism. In A Bold and Dangerous Family, Moorehead once again pays tribute to heroes who fought to uphold our humanity during one of history's darkest chapters.
A Bold and Dangerous Family is illustrated with black-and-white photographs.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Overshadowed by the traumas of the world wars and less cinematic than the Spanish Civil War, the long struggle against fascism in Italy remains obscure and its major figures on both sides unfamiliar. Historian Moorehead (Priam's Gold) shines light on the Rosselli family-the ill-fated brothers Carlo and Nello and their pioneering feminist mother, Amelia-to illuminate the treacherous and contradictory nature of life in Il Duce's Italy. As Mussolini gained power, Nello, the activist firebrand, and Carlo, the reflective intellectual, became antifascists committed to "saving Italy from violent, unprincipled rule." Interweaving the Rossellis' personal lives with discussion of Italian political movements, intellectual currents, and the machinations of the fascists, Moorehead explores the psyche of a nation, and a family, under siege. Moorehead contends that, in the early days, "had they been united and strong, the forces of democracy might have proved a match for the fascists," but the left was badly fractured and ill-prepared to confront squads of club-wielding goons who seemingly sprang up from nowhere. These squadristi, composed largely of "people accustomed to solving problems with violence," took up "punitive expeditions against left-wing rallies, institutions, newspapers, and factories they considered 'nests of subversion.'" As well versed in Italian socialism as she is in spy-novel tropes, Moorehead combines intellectual rigor with immersive storytelling that will appeal to specialists and casual readers alike. B+w photos. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
His name isn't commonly remembered, but Giacomo Matteotti, an Italian politician, was a vitally important man in the 1920s, for a tragic reason: it was his murder in 1924 that sparked a revolution against one of the twentieth century's most hated rulers, Benito Mussolini, who had been elected prime minister of Italy two years earlier. Matteotti's murder, author Moorehead writes, was the moment when fascism itself seemed to stumble. Fascists turned against fascists. People who would normally have remained silent began speaking out. Others with strong political views began shifting from ideology to activism. The Rossellis, Amelia and her sons Carlo and Nello, were part of the anti-Mussolini resistance in the years between the wars. They dedicated their lives to fomenting a rebellion against Mussolini and people like him. Carlo's and Nello's lives ended tragically they were assassinated in 1937, most likely on Mussolini's orders but their courage and dedication inspired thousands of people whose own efforts would continue into WWII. An inspiring story, well told.--Pitt, David Copyright 2017 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
BUNK: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News, by Kevin Young. (Graywolf, $30.) Young's enthralling, essential history is unapologetically subjective - and timely. Again and again, he plumbs the undercurrents of a hoax to discover fearfulness and racism lurking inside. A BOLD AND DANGEROUS FAMILY: The Remarkable Story of an Italian Mother, Her Two Sons, and Their Fight Against Fascism, by Caroline Moorehead. (Harper/HarperCollins, $27.99.) This portrait of a renowned family of Italian anti-fascists, the Rossellis of Florence, depicts the ethical imperative and repercussions of dissent. The book revolves around two brothers whose resistance efforts ended only when they were murdered in 1937, in France. THE RIVER OF CONSCIOUSNESS, by Oliver Sacks. (Knopf, $27.) In this last, posthumous collection of essays, Sacks brilliantly delves into his favorite themes: the evolution of life, the workings of memory and the nature of creativity. THE ODYSSEY, by Homer. Translated by Emily Wilson. (Norton, $39.95.) This landmark translation matches the original's line count while drawing on a spare, simple and direct idiom that strips away formulaic language to let the characters take center stage. ENDURANCE: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery, by Scott Kelly. (Knopf, $29.95.) In this charming if occasionally convoluted memoir, Kelly details the endless dedication that led to his groundbreaking 12 months in space. He pulls back the curtain separating the myth of the astronaut from its human realities. RAMP HOLLOW: The Ordeal of Appalachia, by Steven Stoll. (Hill & Wang, $30.) Stoll's thesis is built around the concept of dispossession among the people of Appalachia. While the book is meticulously researched, it is also light and readable. Its great strength is that it acknowledges something our politics often fails to: that not everyone wants the same things. THE SECOND COMING OF THE KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition, by Linda Gordon. (Liveright, $27.95.) In an enlightening study troubling for its contemporary relevance, Gordon says "the K.K.K. may actually have enunciated values with which a majority of 1920s Americans agreed." FREYA, by Anthony Quinn. (Europa, paper, $19.) The journalist heroine of Quinn's novel is both headstrong and ambitious. Neither will be assets in post-World War II Britain. THE RELIVE BOX: And Other Stories, by T. Coraghessan Boyle. (Ecco/HarperCollins, $25.99.) Set in a close alternate reality, Boyle's skewed stories feel as if they're coming from the end of the world, from a time when we will finally be unable to live with what we are and what we have and what we have done. The full reviews of these and other recent books are on the web: nytimes.com/books
Kirkus Review
A history of the Italian family who mounted an intrepid campaign against Mussolini.After World War I, fascism took hold in war-torn Italy, culminating in the rise of 39-year-old Mussolini as the nation's youngest prime minister. In 1922, supported by the royal family, the Vatican, and about 25,000 well-trained Blackshirts, Mussolini, demanding "full powers" to lead, faced weak opposition by socialists, communists, and liberals. In an absorbing, well-documented narrative, historian Moorehead (Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France, 2014, etc.) focuses on the Rosselli familybrothers Carlo and Nello and their mother, Ameliawho became tireless leaders of an anti-fascist movement that grew in strength as Mussolini's reign of terror intensified. "Fascism," writes the author, "quickly spread its tentacles over the fabric of Italian life. The army, the aristocracy, the Church and industry, all were rallying to defend the rights of a usurper." Drawing on thousands of family letters as well as biographies of Mussolini and histories of the period, Moorehead powerfully depicts the family's anger and despair as Italy succumbed to what Carlo called "an enormous black plague." Although at first some anti-fascists hoped that Mussolini, who was "boastful, vain, cruel and erratic," would fail on his own, it soon became clear that they needed to wage a real battle. By 1927, Mussolini had abolished elections and installed himself as minister "of foreign affairs, of the interior, of war, of the navy and air force, and of corporations." Textbooks were rewritten and journalists fired if they showed "aversion" to fascism. Anti-fascists grew stronger, with Carlo standing as "the most prominent leader of the non-communist anti-fascist opposition." The author chronicles the efforts by Carlo and Nello that led to repeated arrests and incarcerations on Italy's prison islands. When he was released, Carlo took up a frantic pace of writing and speeches, traveling to Paris, London, and, during the Spanish Civil War, Spain. Constantly in Mussolini's cross hairs, the brothers finally were assassinated: 200,000 people followed their funeral procession. A vivid portrait of resistance in dark, perilous times that is not without contemporary relevance. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
In the third book of her "Resistance" trilogy (after A Train in Winter and Village of Secrets), historian Moorehead turns her attentive eye to the earliest resisters of Italy's National Fascist Party, led by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini from 1922 to 1943. The Rosellis, including matriarch Amelia and sons Nello and Carlo, belonged to the Italian aristocracy, making their fortune from stocks in mercury mines. The family's opposition to fascism stemmed from Amelia's deep national pride, formed in her childhood years following Italian unification. This dedication to her country, combined with an ingrained sense of integrity, honesty, and morality contributed to Amelia and her sons becoming fierce and unrelenting critics of the regime, which ultimately led to the deaths of Carlo and Nello at the hands of a French far-right group at the behest of the Fascists. Based in part on letters preserved by the family and secret police files, -Moorehead's account tells an extremely personal and engaging story about the price one family paid for its political resistance. Verdict A must-read for fans of the author's previous works and those interested in World War II and resistance movements. [See Prepub Alert, 5/1/17.]- Chad E. Statler, Lakeland Comm. Coll., Kirtland, OH © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Principal Characters | p. ix |
| Chronology | p. xi |
| Preface | p. xiii |
| Chapter 1 A Watery Childhood | p. 1 |
| Chapter 2 Donne Emancipate | p. 19 |
| Chapter 3 Defining la Patria | p. 32 |
| Chapter 4 Becoming a Man | p. 51 |
| Chapter 5 The Dark Seraphim | p. 66 |
| Chapter 6 Planting a Tree | p. 89 |
| Chapter 7 Moral Choices | p. 109 |
| Chapter 8 'Non Mollare' | p. 127 |
| Chapter 9 Breaking Free | p. 152 |
| Chapter 10 Defying the Barbarians | p. 170 |
| Chapter 11 Il Confino | p. 188 |
| Chapter 12 The Island of Winds | p. 202 |
| Chapter 13 Not Even the Flies Escape | p. 221 |
| Chapter 14 To Be an Exile | p. 236 |
| Chapter 15 Just One Heart | p. 259 |
| Chapter 16 Dancing for Liberty | p. 278 |
| Chapter 17 A World of Moral Richness | p. 297 |
| Chapter 18 A Free Man Again | p. 328 |
| Chapter 19 A Corneillian Tragedy | p. 351 |
| Postscript | p. 373 |
| Acknowledgements | p. 375 |
| List of Illustrations | p. 377 |
| Sources and Select Bibliography | p. 379 |
| Notes | p. 389 |
| Index | p. 405 |