Mussolini
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Narrated by:
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Nadia May
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By:
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Jasper Ridley
About this listen
A complex and contradictory figure, Mussolini won the fascination of many statesmen and writers, and their wives. From his early years raised in the traditions of revolutionary Italian Socialism, to his violent execution by Communist partisans at the end of World War II, we watch Mussolini's power ambitions erode his political ideals, as he evolves from brilliant orator and journalist to empire-building dictator enforcing his authority by death squads.
A man initially praised and admired by such Western luminaries as Winston Churchill, or underestimated as a posturing buffoon, Mussolini eventually showed his true colors as a racist and persecutor of the Jews. He sought equal stature with Hitler, but his alliance with him would prove disastrous. Ridley's account of this unforgettable 20th-century figure is even-handed and indispensable.
©1997 Jasper Ridley (P)1998 Blackstone AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
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By: Alistair Horne
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The Pope at War
- The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler
- By: David I. Kertzer
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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When Pope Pius XII died in 1958, his papers were sealed in the Vatican Secret Archives, leaving unanswered questions about what he knew and did during World War II. Those questions have only grown and festered, making Pius XII one of the most controversial popes in Church history, especially now as the Vatican prepares to canonize him.
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Intellectually dishonest
- By ReviewAmazon384 on 04-08-23
By: David I. Kertzer
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Ben-Gurion
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Shimon Peres was in his early 20s when he first met David Ben-Gurion. Although the state that Ben-Gurion would lead through war and peace had not yet declared its precarious independence, the "Old Man", as he was called even then, was already a mythic figure. Peres, who came of age in the cabinets of Ben-Gurion, is uniquely placed to evoke this figure of stirring contradictions - a prophetic visionary and a canny pragmatist who early grasped the necessity of compromise for national survival.
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Great Perfomance, Less than Stellar Story
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De Gaulle
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- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 41 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In a definitive biography of the mythic general who refused to accept Nazi domination of France, Julian Jackson captures this titanic figure as never before. Drawing on unpublished letters, memoirs, and resources of the recently opened de Gaulle archive, he reveals how this volatile visionary put a broken France back at the center of world affairs.
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Extremely British approach to de Gaulle
- By Keith on 05-31-19
By: Julian Jackson
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Gandhi & Churchill
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 29 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In this fast-paced epic, best-selling historian and master storyteller Arthur Herman spotlights two giants of the 20th century. Gandhi & Churchill shows how their 40-year rivalry revolutionized India and the British Empire, paving the way for a new era. Gandhi championed India's independence, Churchill the British Empire.
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A motif that works well
- By Maine Dave on 11-30-09
By: Arthur Herman
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Paris
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- By: Antony Beevor, Artemis Cooper
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In this brilliant synthesis of social, political, and cultural history, Antony Beevor and Artemis Cooper present a vivid and compelling portrayal of the City of Lights after its liberation. Paris became the diplomatic battleground in the opening stages of the Cold War.
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Worthwhile listen
- By DanBudda on 07-27-16
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Lenin
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Drawing on new research, including the diaries, memoirs, and personal letters of both Lenin and his friends, Victor Sebestyen's unique biography - the first in English in nearly two decades - is not only a political examination of one of the most important historical figures of the 20th century but a portrait of Lenin the man. Unexpectedly, Lenin was someone who loved nature, hunting, and fishing and could identify hundreds of species of plants, a despotic ruler whose closest ties and friendships were with women.
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Lenin totally took an extra piece of that cake.
- By John Gathly on 05-14-19
By: Victor Sebestyen
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Menachem Begin
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Reviled as a fascist by his great rival Ben-Gurion, venerated by Israel’s underclass, the first Israeli to win the Nobel Peace Prize, a proud Jew but not a conventionally religious one, Menachem Begin was both complex and controversial. Born in Poland in 1913, Begin was a youthful admirer of the Revisionist Zionist Ze’ev Jabotinsky and soon became a leader within Jabotinsky’s Betar movement.
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Great story lousy oration
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Adolf Hitler
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Based on previously unpublished documents, diaries, notes, photographs, and dramatic interviews with Hitler's colleagues and associates, this is the definitive biography of one of the most despised yet fascinating figures of the 20th century. Painstakingly documented, it is a work that will not soon be forgotten.
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Strange Person
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Paris 1919
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Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, renowned historian Margaret MacMillan's best-selling Paris 1919 is the story of six remarkable months that changed the world. At the close of WWI, between January and July of 1919, delegates from around the world converged on Paris under the auspices of peace. New countries were created, old empires were dissolved, and for six months, Paris was the center of the world.
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Good book, well narrated
- By W. F. Rucker on 02-07-09
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Prague Winter
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- Narrated by: Madeleine Albright
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Before Madeleine Albright turned twelve, her life was shaken by the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia—the country where she was born—the Battle of Britain, the near total destruction of European Jewry, the Allied victory in World War II, the rise of communism, and the onset of the Cold War. Albright's experiences, and those of her family, provide a lens through which to view the most tumultuous dozen years in modern history.
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History from a Personal Perspective
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Heinrich Himmler
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Authors Roger Manvell and Heinrich Fraenkel, notable biographers of the World War II German leaders Joseph Goebbels and Herman Goring, delve into the life of one of the most sinister, clever, and successful of all the Nazi leaders: Heinrich Himmler. As the head of the feared SS, Himler supervised the extermination of millions. Here is the story of how a seemingly ordinary boy grew into an obsessive and superstitious man who ventured into herbalism, astrology, and homeopathic medicine before finally turning to the “science” of racial purity and the belief in the superiority of the Aryan people.
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A new and insightful look at a Monster
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Hitler
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Hailed as the most compelling biography of the German dictator yet written, Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the heart of its subject's immense darkness. From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail, strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self-created myths. One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in the 20th century.
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An Excellent Read
- By Rodney on 09-19-13
By: Ian Kershaw
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What listeners say about Mussolini
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jeff
- 03-14-12
Very interesting!
What did you love best about Mussolini?
I teach American college students in Italy occasionally and this has been a great resource in learning to understand Italy. This is a serious biography that provides a reasonably balanced view of Mussolini. He wasn't a clown or a monster, but a deeply troubled man who did very bad things to Italy. Ridley is convincing that his biggest character flaw was wanting to choose winners -- and his biggest mistake, of course, was betting that Hitler was a winner.
Any additional comments?
I love Nadia May as a reader . . . but the book is the point!
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Oliver
- 03-09-11
Interesting, but not captivating
This is my first review, so I will keep it short and come right to the point.
I had just finished the huge, unabridged "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by W. Shirer, read by Grover Gardner. I had read this book before and finished the audiobook mostly during my commute to work and on weekends, over a period of several weeks if not months. Mr. Gardner is the perfect speaker for this book and I was captivated from the first page all the way through to the end.
I decided to look up the life of Mussolini to complement my knowledge about the period, and found Jasper Ridley's book. But right from the start, I was feeling uneasy and somewhat disinterested in the narrative, and without having read the book beforehand, I can't quite put my finger on why.
I simply can't be pulled into the story. I can listen to it for a few minutes or half an hour, and never feel bad switching it off and waiting for another opportunity to continue. In particular, the first half of the book feels like a long sequence of snapshots glued together, as much as one may feel by reading several pages of chronologically sorted proverbs and bonmots. Interesting facts, but not much coherence. It does get better from the 1930's onwards. The other issue is that Nadia May's style of reading just adds, or perhaps creates, this feeling of detachment. I'm sure that if read by Mr. Gardner, some of the flaws of the original text might bave been covered up. There is very little in Ms May's voice that keeps me alert. Add to that some issues with a background hiss that is present during the reading, but disappears between paragraphs. This emphasizes the "glued together" quality of the reading, it goes "hissssss...silence...hissssss...silence" all the time, giving the impression that each paragraph of the book has been recorded separately and later edited together.
I will probably buy the book on paper to check the reason why I'm not delighted with this recording.
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12 people found this helpful
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- A. M. Dirks
- 08-13-17
Informative read!
Very important to read this book, giving an understanding of how Fascism grew and lead a country into War.
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- Brian
- 04-02-22
Great look at the Italian leader
This book not only gives a great look at the Italian leader but also the relationship between the governments and the development of Fascism.
How Socialist Communist leads to the start of Fascism and the events causing world war 2.
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- Mike
- 02-24-18
Not as detailed as other WW2 leaders bios.
It seemed to flow naturally through his life, although they didn't spend a lot of time at the milestones like one might expect. All and all, a decent story about Italian facism during that era. I still don't feel like I know Mussulini any better now than I did before.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 02-22-24
Informative
Good book on a leader of the times who has often been overshadowed by his contemporaries. It was a sufficient length to tell the story of Mussolini without losing details or being too lengthy. Though some reviewers were critical of the reader, I grew to like her the more I listened to the book.
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- Randall
- 02-02-19
THE AUTHOR TOPPLED OVER
I'm only a little over half way through with this biography and this is only my first
observation. I will update it if my opinion changes further into the book.
This author leans sooooo far to the left that he fell off his socialist soapbox.
Mussolini was deeply into the European socialist movement in his early career
and Ridley seems to be an apologist for anything "The Pig" Mussolini did.
I am hoping this author becomes more objective as the bio continues. If so, I
will certainly update my review. But I seriously doubt it.
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93 people found this helpful
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- kay
- 08-05-16
horrible reading
stale tale narrated poorly.
wouldn't recommend to hear the narrator on any book. simply disappointing narrative on such a n historic figure
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22 people found this helpful
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- James W. Church
- 06-24-19
Mussolini and Fascism Beyond Caricature
This biography was well presented by Nadia May and exceptionally well written by Jasper Ridley. The outstanding quality of the book is not just its development of Mussolini as an individual, which we would expect from a good biography, but the demonstration of the development of the philosophy of fascism over time. Clearly fascism was not just one set of ideas. It was an evolving belief system finding its genesis in Mussolini’s rejection of international socialism because of its failure to unite the working class across Europe in the autumn of 1914. From there fascism evolved as the personal beliefs of Mussolini adapted to Italian politics and international social, political, economic and military circumstances. Jasper Ridley brought these diverse variables together exceptionally well. This is clearly a book worth reading for those who seek to understand who Mussolini was and what fascism truly represented rather than what the contemporary American caricature suggests.
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4 people found this helpful