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"Edda Mussolini was the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini's oldest and favorite child. At 19, she was married to Count Galleazzo Ciano, Il Duce's Minister for Foreign Affairs during the 1930s, the most turbulent decade in Italy's fascist history. In the years preceding World War II, Edda ruled over Italy's aristocratic families and the cultured and middle classes while selling Fascism on the international stage. How a young woman wielded such control is the heart of Caroline Moore's fascinating history. The issues that emerge reveal not only a great deal about the power of fascism, but also the ease with which dictatorship so easily took hold in a country weakened by war and a continent mired in chaos and desperate for peace. Drawing on a wealth of archival material, some newly released, along with memoirs and personal papers, Mussolini's Daughter paints a portrait of a woman in her twenties whose sheer force of character and ruthless narcissism helped impose a brutal and vulgar movement on a pliable and complicit society. Yet as Moorehead shows, not even Edda's colossal willpower, her scheming, nor her father's avowed love could save her husband from Mussolini's brutal vengeance." -- Publisher marketing

Edda Mussolini was Benito's favourite daughter- spoilt, venal, uneducated but clever, faithless but flamboyant, a brilliant diplomat, wild but brave, and ultimately strong and loyal. She was her father's confidante during the 20 years of Fascist rule, acting as envoy to both Germany and Britain, and playing a part in steering Italy to join forces with Hitler. From her early twenties she was effectively first lady of Italy. She married Galeazzo Ciano, who would become the youngest Foreign Secretary in Italian history, and they were the most celebrated and glamorous couple in elegant, vulgar Roman fascist society. Their fortunes turned in 1943, when Ciano voted against Mussolini in a plot to bring him down, and his father-in-law did not forgive him. In a dramatic story that takes in hidden diaries, her father's fall and her husband's execution, an escape into Switzerland and a period in exile, we come to know a complicated, bold and determined woman who emerges not just as a witness but as a key player in some of the twentieth century's defining moments. And we see Fascist Italy with all its glamour, decadence and political intrigue, and the turbulence before its violent end.

Set in the remote villages of the southern Massif Central in France, this narrative explores the remarkable history of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon during World War II. The local inhabitants courageously sheltered thousands from the Gestapo, including resisters, Freemasons, communists, and primarily Jewish orphans whose parents had been deported. Their collective bravery and moral conviction highlight a profound act of humanity amidst the horrors of war.

Set in early 20th-century Florence, the narrative follows the Rosselli family, particularly matriarch Amelia, as they confront the rise of fascism under Mussolini. With a strong commitment to antifascism, her sons, Carlo and Nello, boldly oppose the regime, risking their status among the elite. As Mussolini's oppressive police state takes hold, the family's resistance evolves into active defiance, highlighting the tension between cultural aristocracy and political conviction in a time of national turmoil.

In the late summer of 1943, when Italy changed sides in the War and the Germans - now their enemies - occupied the north of the country, an Italian Resistance was born. Ada, Frida, Silvia and Bianca were four young Piedmontese women who joined the Resistance, living clandestinely in the mountains surrounding Turin. They were not alone. Between 1943 and 1945, as the Allies battled their way north, thousands of men and women throughout occupied Italy rose up and fought to liberate their country from the German invaders and their Fascist collaborators. The bloody civil war that ensued across the country pitted neighbour against neighbour, and brought out the best and worst in Italian society. The courage shown by the partisans was exemplary, and eventually bound them together as a coherent fighting force. The women's contribution was invaluable - they fought, carried messages and weapons, provided safe houses, laid mines and took prisoners. Ada's house deep in the mountains became a meeting place and refuge for many of them

A gripping tale of intrigue... I was enormously moved Observer

A perennially interesting story, that always captures the imagination.

"A no-budget, brass tacks guide to starting a business with examples from subcultural movements"--

A new edition of this seminal book, now with a new introduction by the author on the current crisisHow can society cope with the diaspora of the twenty- first century?

In this biography of Iris Origo, Caroline Moorehead has drawn on unpublished letters, diaries and manuscripts to provide a vivid picture of the life of one of the most intriguing and attractive women of the 20th century.