The cult of the Duce is the first book to explore systematically the personality
cult of Benito Mussolini. It examines practices that began before Mussolini's r
ise to power and which multiplied as Fascism consolidated its support among the
Italian population. By approaching the subject from many different angles, inclu
ding those of the visual arts and the media as well as social and political hist
ory, this book makes a decisive contribution to the understanding of Fascism and
modern leadership.
The conviction that Mussolini was an exceptional individua
l first became dogma among Fascists and then was communicated to the people at l
arge. Intellectuals and artists helped fashion the idea of the Duce as a new Cae
sar while the modern media of press, photography, cinema and radio aggrandised h
is every public act. Mussolini's image was ubiquitous and varied; he adopted the
guises of bourgeois politician, man of culture, sportsman, family man and warri
or as he appealed to different audiences. The book explores in detail many manif
estations of the cult and the way in which Italians experienced it. It also cons
iders its controversial resonances in the postwar period. The founder of Fascism
was the prototype dictator of the twentieth century. As such his cult is a cruc
ial topic in the study of a century that produced many examples of dictators, so
me of them explicitly modelling themselves on Mussolini. Academics and students
with interests in Italian and European history and politics will find the volume
indispensable to an understanding of the modern era. Among the contributions is
an Afterword by Mussolini's leading biographer, R.J.B. Bosworth.
