What do you think?
Rate this book
Mussolini's Daughter: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe
A thrilling biography of Edda Mussolini—Benito Mussolini’s favorite daughter, one of the most influential women in 1930s Europe—and a heart-stopping account of the unraveling of the Fascist dream in Italy, from award-winning historian and author of the acclaimed Resistance Quartet, Caroline Moorehead “Reads like a page-turning thriller.”— BookPage 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 Moorehead’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. As she did in her Resistance Quartet, Moorehead delves deep into the past, exploring what fascism felt like to those living under it, how it blossomed and grew, and how fascists and aristocrats joined forces to pursue ten years of extravagance, amorality, and excessive luxury—greed, excess, and ambition that set the world on fire. The result is a powerful portrait of a young woman who played a key role in one of the most terrifying and violent periods in human history.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 2022
About the author
Caroline Moorehead
43 books230 followersCaroline Moorehead is the New York Times bestselling author of Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France; A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France; and Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. An acclaimed biographer, Moorehead has also written for the New York Review of Books, the Guardian, the Times, and the Independent. She lives in London and Italy.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
December 8, 2022
Not a bad book by any means, but like many biographies of women, it’s mostly about the men in their lives. Obviously Edda’s life was defined by who her father was and their relationship was complex, but it would’ve been nice to hear more about her as an individual vs. her father, her husband, etc.
January 6, 2023
There is a great deal about Mussolini's daughter to be found here, but it's just as much about the rise of fascism & Mussolini himself. I'm not sure the sub-title of "the most dangerous woman in Europe" really applies to this book...it's more a lament to how easily Italy fell to fascism and then into the thrall of Germany's -- and Hitler's -- ambitions. It's a fantastic read, and offers a slightly revisionist look at Italy's involvement in WW2, but it's far more than a look at Edda's life. Consider her an important supporting role in a much grander story....but a story well told.
December 9, 2022
Just as much about Mussolini as the daughter
August 10, 2023
I was curious to read MUSSOLINI'S DAUGHTER: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe" once I learned it had been published. Its author, Caroline Moorehead, I came to respect from having read several years ago her book, A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France, which had made a profound and poignant impression on me.
Edda Mussolini (1910-1994) was Benito Mussolini's eldest child, and his favorite. The book goes into considerable detail to trace the arc of Edda's life, as well as that of her parents and her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, who had served as Italy's Foreign Minister during the 1930s and much of World War II. Frankly, Edda did not stand out for me as a distinctive historical figure in her own right, except for the influence she sometimes exerted on her father and her role in spiriting out of Italy, Ciano's diaries, which were of considerable historical value.
What this book succeeds in doing is conveying to the reader the impact that Mussolini's rule had on Italy during his lifetime and beyond. That is what fascinated me the most, because unlike Germany under Hitler, I hadn't much of an awareness before reading Mussolini's Daughter of how the Fascist Party had insinuated itself in the life and culture of Italy between 1922 and 1943. But what Caroline Moorehead had to say about this period aptly summed up Benito Mussolini's effect on Italy ---
"... Mussolini had been revered by many, perhaps most Italians with an almost mystical devotion. His genius had been to understand that faith allows people to really believe that mountains can be moved. 'Illusion,' as he said long before he came to power, 'is, perhaps, the only reality in life.' He knew how to speak to them, play on their bad sides, their weaknesses and credulity, their scant political education, their tendency to bully and prevaricate and to prize above all the appearance of things. Mussolinisimo was a rite, a liturgy. And while social reforms were changing the lives of many Italians, they enjoyed the sense of success, the sporting triumphs, the paid holidays, the feeling that they had joined the Great Powers, that Italy belonged to them, 'the aristocracy of healthy ordinary people' and not to the decaying nobility. They were proud to be Italians. Mussolini's error was to be seduced by Hitler and allow himself to be convinced that weak, impoverished Italy could actually have any sway over a country as large and powerful as Germany; and to misread the Italians' aversion to racism, and their attachment to ... the comforts and reassurance of bourgeois life. They had not wanted to be warriors, new men, or breeders of little soldiers."
For anyone with an interest in Italian history, Mussolini's Daughter fits the bill.
Edda Mussolini (1910-1994) was Benito Mussolini's eldest child, and his favorite. The book goes into considerable detail to trace the arc of Edda's life, as well as that of her parents and her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, who had served as Italy's Foreign Minister during the 1930s and much of World War II. Frankly, Edda did not stand out for me as a distinctive historical figure in her own right, except for the influence she sometimes exerted on her father and her role in spiriting out of Italy, Ciano's diaries, which were of considerable historical value.
What this book succeeds in doing is conveying to the reader the impact that Mussolini's rule had on Italy during his lifetime and beyond. That is what fascinated me the most, because unlike Germany under Hitler, I hadn't much of an awareness before reading Mussolini's Daughter of how the Fascist Party had insinuated itself in the life and culture of Italy between 1922 and 1943. But what Caroline Moorehead had to say about this period aptly summed up Benito Mussolini's effect on Italy ---
"... Mussolini had been revered by many, perhaps most Italians with an almost mystical devotion. His genius had been to understand that faith allows people to really believe that mountains can be moved. 'Illusion,' as he said long before he came to power, 'is, perhaps, the only reality in life.' He knew how to speak to them, play on their bad sides, their weaknesses and credulity, their scant political education, their tendency to bully and prevaricate and to prize above all the appearance of things. Mussolinisimo was a rite, a liturgy. And while social reforms were changing the lives of many Italians, they enjoyed the sense of success, the sporting triumphs, the paid holidays, the feeling that they had joined the Great Powers, that Italy belonged to them, 'the aristocracy of healthy ordinary people' and not to the decaying nobility. They were proud to be Italians. Mussolini's error was to be seduced by Hitler and allow himself to be convinced that weak, impoverished Italy could actually have any sway over a country as large and powerful as Germany; and to misread the Italians' aversion to racism, and their attachment to ... the comforts and reassurance of bourgeois life. They had not wanted to be warriors, new men, or breeders of little soldiers."
For anyone with an interest in Italian history, Mussolini's Daughter fits the bill.
November 30, 2022
Great as a history book narrative but not sure there’s enough on her to warrant a whole book. Seems like the author just padded her story with all the things we already knew about her dad to make the book long enough. Doesn’t make it a bad book, just not many revelations.
March 29, 2023
Wait, whom is this about?
April 5, 2024
Excellent! Absolutely fascinating.
November 26, 2022
Edda, oldest and favorite child of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was spoiled but clever, wild and flamboyant but brave and loyal. Married at 19 to Count Galleazzo Ciano, who would become her father's Minister for Foreign Affairs during the 1930s, Edda was charged with selling Fascism to the middle class Italians and on the international stage. Her father's confidant, she played a role in steering Italy to join forces with Hitler. However, Edda's fortunes fell rapidly in 1943 when Ciano voted against Mussolini in an attempt to bring him down and the Americans drove deeper into the heart of Italy.
Elegantly written, painstakingly researched and with a fine eye for detail, this book is a fascinating read. Although it focuses on the complex and deeply conflicted Edda Mussoilini, Moorehead also gives a clear and balanced account of the growth of Fascism, the extravagance and amorality of the times, and its later collapse.
Elegantly written, painstakingly researched and with a fine eye for detail, this book is a fascinating read. Although it focuses on the complex and deeply conflicted Edda Mussoilini, Moorehead also gives a clear and balanced account of the growth of Fascism, the extravagance and amorality of the times, and its later collapse.
February 6, 2024
As with most books about the offspring of a famous person, the book tends to be more about the parent then the child. This is the case with this book; it was more about Mussolini and fascism than it was about Edda. It's subtitled "the most dangerous woman in Europe" but I did not get that at all from the book. Who was afraid of her? Her husband and her father both had numerous mistresses and yet she did nothing about it. After the arrest of both her father and husband, she then became the focal point of the book, but there was only about 50 pages left. If you truly want to get to know Edda Mussolini, this is not the book.
Read
October 17, 2023Terrible. Although it purports to be about Edda, it barely focuses on her--instead on her father, husband, and others. She's only ever tangentially mentioned as being involved in the events being discussed, and never in anything approaching her words or perspective. For instance we keep getting quotes from contemporaries about how she ruled her father and was so "dangerous" but we have no clue why any of that would be the case from the material presented in this book. She is only reflected to us through the eyes of others, and that only very obliquely and shallowly.
January 27, 2023
Edda Mussolini’s life was so entwined with her father’s that her biography pulls the reader into the development of Fascism and Italy’s devastating partnership with Nazi Germany. Caroline Moorehead does a great job in presenting Edda’s complex world of family and politics.
Through Edda’s saga you learn of Italy’s role in the Spanish Civil War (larger than I had expected) and why Ethopia had to be invaded from Mussolini’s perspective. You see how Hitler courted the Italians who considered Germans crude. The purpose and governance of the “Republic of Salo” are clarified as are the official and unofficial Italian policies regarding the Jews. While you know the ending, understanding the means of getting there fills you with emotion as the tragic part drags on. While Edda lived to be 84, her active life essentially ended at 36.
Edda was Benito Mussolini’s first born child and they bonded right away. She looked like him and had his temperament. As her life began, father was a socialist, a journalist and was mostly impoverished. When Edda was 4, her mother, Rachele, married her father whose lover (quickly abandoned) had just delivered a child. In building his career in leading a party of “family values” her father, seldom home, and took mistresses. While he rose in power and rank Rachele maintained her peasant demeanor.
It seems that Edda’s marriage to the aristocratic Galeazzo Ciano was a whim, but the wedding was not. It was a giant national (media) affair. Being the Duce’s son-in-law led to a posting in Shanghai where the couple succeeded and learned the diplomatic ropes. They seem to be a power couple, entertaining and being entertained.
The early years of the Duce’s rule were good for the wealthy. Edda often left her 3 children with staff to enjoy life on Capri where she bought a villa. She traveled on her own, and while still in her 20’s was used by her father for soft diplomacy. She wowed London with her sense of style. Hitler had a State dinner to honor her and she dined with the Goebbels who let a pet leopard join the parties. Both Edda and her husband were known for having many lovers and Edda was also known also for excessive drinking.
Moorehead describes Hitlers long courtship of Mussolini. Their eventual agreement required war. When war comes both father and daughter are up for it. Edda’s husband, who is active in the Mussolini administration, is not. Count Ciano sees the imbalance of resources and the devastation to come. He tries within the system to stop it. Given the family and “political politics” he had to walk a fine line. He cleverly gets himself appointed to a post at the Vatican where there was also anti-war sentiment. What follows is a description of how, through personal and professional tragedy, Mussolini comes to see his dance with Hitler was a master-slave relationship.
In the end, party girl Edda is heroic on behalf of her husband. She preserves his diaries. She fights for her children. She survives. Her father is found at a routine stop by partisans and the result is the humiliating end of the Duce and his last mistress (who tries to escape in a mink coat).
You almost cry (or maybe you do) understanding all that went on before. as Ciano faces death, Edda crawls into Switzerland and American tanks roll down the streets of Rome. Former rank and file fascist supporters celebrate … It is all here.
This is highly recommended not only for the clarification of the Italy at that time, but for the many parallels you can see in the situation of the world today.
Through Edda’s saga you learn of Italy’s role in the Spanish Civil War (larger than I had expected) and why Ethopia had to be invaded from Mussolini’s perspective. You see how Hitler courted the Italians who considered Germans crude. The purpose and governance of the “Republic of Salo” are clarified as are the official and unofficial Italian policies regarding the Jews. While you know the ending, understanding the means of getting there fills you with emotion as the tragic part drags on. While Edda lived to be 84, her active life essentially ended at 36.
Edda was Benito Mussolini’s first born child and they bonded right away. She looked like him and had his temperament. As her life began, father was a socialist, a journalist and was mostly impoverished. When Edda was 4, her mother, Rachele, married her father whose lover (quickly abandoned) had just delivered a child. In building his career in leading a party of “family values” her father, seldom home, and took mistresses. While he rose in power and rank Rachele maintained her peasant demeanor.
It seems that Edda’s marriage to the aristocratic Galeazzo Ciano was a whim, but the wedding was not. It was a giant national (media) affair. Being the Duce’s son-in-law led to a posting in Shanghai where the couple succeeded and learned the diplomatic ropes. They seem to be a power couple, entertaining and being entertained.
The early years of the Duce’s rule were good for the wealthy. Edda often left her 3 children with staff to enjoy life on Capri where she bought a villa. She traveled on her own, and while still in her 20’s was used by her father for soft diplomacy. She wowed London with her sense of style. Hitler had a State dinner to honor her and she dined with the Goebbels who let a pet leopard join the parties. Both Edda and her husband were known for having many lovers and Edda was also known also for excessive drinking.
Moorehead describes Hitlers long courtship of Mussolini. Their eventual agreement required war. When war comes both father and daughter are up for it. Edda’s husband, who is active in the Mussolini administration, is not. Count Ciano sees the imbalance of resources and the devastation to come. He tries within the system to stop it. Given the family and “political politics” he had to walk a fine line. He cleverly gets himself appointed to a post at the Vatican where there was also anti-war sentiment. What follows is a description of how, through personal and professional tragedy, Mussolini comes to see his dance with Hitler was a master-slave relationship.
In the end, party girl Edda is heroic on behalf of her husband. She preserves his diaries. She fights for her children. She survives. Her father is found at a routine stop by partisans and the result is the humiliating end of the Duce and his last mistress (who tries to escape in a mink coat).
You almost cry (or maybe you do) understanding all that went on before. as Ciano faces death, Edda crawls into Switzerland and American tanks roll down the streets of Rome. Former rank and file fascist supporters celebrate … It is all here.
This is highly recommended not only for the clarification of the Italy at that time, but for the many parallels you can see in the situation of the world today.
May 13, 2023
I think this was the worst biography I have ever read. I am aware that I am being a bit unfair to the author, but there it is. Let me explain.
It is obvious from this book that Benito Mussolini had some sort of personality disorder. He was extremely grandiose and paranoid--- or as Hawkeye Pierce once said of the idiotic Frank Burns in MASH, he had "delusions of adequacy." Mussolini was a terrible father and husband and was congenitally unfaithful to his wife. But then, she was crazier than he was. Without being ordered to do so, she walked around Rome day after day, dressed as a poor person, spying on local people and sometimes reporting them to the fascist police. His daughter whose name escapes me never worked a day in her life though she socialized endlessly and hung around with the likes of Von Ribbentrop and Goebbels --and was married to another high-ranking fascist. Both wore fancy clothes and uniforms and cheated on each other all the time.
Italy itself was rife with corruption and there appeared to be no discipline in any of the armed forces or government departments. Mussolini began his empire building by attacking the Abyssinians, who had only spears for weapons. The whole country seemed to be not only in a state of total moral decay but to be a completely disorganized mess from the early 1920's when Il Duce took over, until 1944 when their allies the Germans had to fight their battles against the Allies for them.
The whole regime has an tragicomic air about it. Yes, Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany were probably far, far worse as far as atrocities and cruelty went, but at least they had a few brave warriors and some organization. These guys were utterly pathetic and totally uninteresting. The book is called "Mussolini's Daughter" yet we never really learn much about her, nor do we care. She is like a cipher in designer clothes, a D list actress surrounded by tasteless wealth. There is almost a Trumpian air to it all. Anyway, Il Duce's plan to Make Italy Great Again didn't as, we know, work out --thank goodness.
About the only thing the Italian fascists had going for them is that, unlike Hitler, they weren't really big on the persecution of Jews. They really had no interest in being anti-Semites. But that's about it. The story is told without a glimmer of light being shed on one sympathetic character. Maybe it's the unvarnished truth but it was all so mind-numbing, I couldn't tell.
Not for the faint of heart or for those looking for the goodness in humanity.
It is obvious from this book that Benito Mussolini had some sort of personality disorder. He was extremely grandiose and paranoid--- or as Hawkeye Pierce once said of the idiotic Frank Burns in MASH, he had "delusions of adequacy." Mussolini was a terrible father and husband and was congenitally unfaithful to his wife. But then, she was crazier than he was. Without being ordered to do so, she walked around Rome day after day, dressed as a poor person, spying on local people and sometimes reporting them to the fascist police. His daughter whose name escapes me never worked a day in her life though she socialized endlessly and hung around with the likes of Von Ribbentrop and Goebbels --and was married to another high-ranking fascist. Both wore fancy clothes and uniforms and cheated on each other all the time.
Italy itself was rife with corruption and there appeared to be no discipline in any of the armed forces or government departments. Mussolini began his empire building by attacking the Abyssinians, who had only spears for weapons. The whole country seemed to be not only in a state of total moral decay but to be a completely disorganized mess from the early 1920's when Il Duce took over, until 1944 when their allies the Germans had to fight their battles against the Allies for them.
The whole regime has an tragicomic air about it. Yes, Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany were probably far, far worse as far as atrocities and cruelty went, but at least they had a few brave warriors and some organization. These guys were utterly pathetic and totally uninteresting. The book is called "Mussolini's Daughter" yet we never really learn much about her, nor do we care. She is like a cipher in designer clothes, a D list actress surrounded by tasteless wealth. There is almost a Trumpian air to it all. Anyway, Il Duce's plan to Make Italy Great Again didn't as, we know, work out --thank goodness.
About the only thing the Italian fascists had going for them is that, unlike Hitler, they weren't really big on the persecution of Jews. They really had no interest in being anti-Semites. But that's about it. The story is told without a glimmer of light being shed on one sympathetic character. Maybe it's the unvarnished truth but it was all so mind-numbing, I couldn't tell.
Not for the faint of heart or for those looking for the goodness in humanity.
March 18, 2024
Not sure if it's because Edda Ciano (née Mussolini) didn't diarise much, or maybe because she didn't have much to say until she really came into her own in her early thirties, but the first two-thirds of this book is more about her father, Mussolini, or her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, and the rise of Fascism in Italy following the end of the First World War. As such, it makes for a handy guide to interwar Italian history and the psychology and personality of Mussolini. Based on the book, it seems incredible that Italy was dominated by such a collection of mediocre (and murderous) buffoons. But, then again, a number of forces conspired to catapult Mussolini and his entourage to power, and as long and the money and the graft were flowing, all the better for them. One clear insight from this book was the rather neglected and powerless status of women in Italian (and German) society in the lead-up to and during the war. The subtitle is "the most dangerous woman in Europe", but it seems pretty clear that while Edda Mussolini wielded considerable moral authority over her father -- urging him to ally with Nazi Germany -- she was excluded from the actual decision process. Still, while she doesn't exactly live happily ever after, soon after the war Edda Mussolini had regained her villa on Capri and was able to live comfortably on both the proceeds of her husband's memoirs, as well as a book written by her father shortly before he was justifiably executed by partisans. She came away from the war with no real insights, and experienced no real justice.
July 3, 2023
Before reading Mussolini's daughter I knew a little bit about Edda because I listened to Sisters in resistance. But, I did not know that much about her father.
I looked at one or two other reviews and they mentioned that the book talks a lot about Benito Mussolini and I agree with that. Maybe this book could be a Mussolini's biography instead of Edda's.
But, I did think that Mussolini's daughter was interesting to read. I learned that Mussolini was a writer before he became a dictator. I never thought he would have been a writer. I learned how he came because the leader of Italy, his wife, children, mistresses.
Two things that Surprised me was that I thought Italy's military was better than it actually was in world war II. And I also learned that Italy was no where near as antisemitic as Germany during world wart II.
My favorite part of the book was the afterword which talks about what happen to some of the people in the book later in their lives and when they died.
So I thought Mussolini's daughter was a nice biography to read I am just not sure it talked enough about Edda. But, I suppose Mussolini was a big influence on her life and Italy for 20 years so I suppose you have to know him to know her. I don't know.
So I suppose if I have one complaint about the book is that I wish it talked more about Edda instead of talking so much about Benito Mussolini.
I looked at one or two other reviews and they mentioned that the book talks a lot about Benito Mussolini and I agree with that. Maybe this book could be a Mussolini's biography instead of Edda's.
But, I did think that Mussolini's daughter was interesting to read. I learned that Mussolini was a writer before he became a dictator. I never thought he would have been a writer. I learned how he came because the leader of Italy, his wife, children, mistresses.
Two things that Surprised me was that I thought Italy's military was better than it actually was in world war II. And I also learned that Italy was no where near as antisemitic as Germany during world wart II.
My favorite part of the book was the afterword which talks about what happen to some of the people in the book later in their lives and when they died.
So I thought Mussolini's daughter was a nice biography to read I am just not sure it talked enough about Edda. But, I suppose Mussolini was a big influence on her life and Italy for 20 years so I suppose you have to know him to know her. I don't know.
So I suppose if I have one complaint about the book is that I wish it talked more about Edda instead of talking so much about Benito Mussolini.
May 4, 2023
The Villa Carpena is not the only place of pilgrimage for those interested in Mussolini and his family. In nearby Predappio, transformed from a poor, remote, agricultural hamlet into a thriving tourist centre, Mussolini and his family. In nearby Predappio, transformed from a poor, remote, agricultural hamlet into a thriving tourist centre, Mussolini's mother Rosa's schoolroom is also a museum, and visitors can inspect the dingy rooms of the Casa Natale in which the Duce was born. Nearby, in the cemetary of San Cassiano, is the family crypt. On 28 October every year Italians nostalgic for the Fascist past come here to remember and celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Fascism, before processing with flags and banners down Predappio's main street. The gift shop in the village, which sells many of the same things as the Villa Carpena, does good business; alongside the busts and the knives are copies of Mein Kampf and Nazi insignia. None of this is illegal in modern Italy, where these pilgrimage sites have come to be seen as an integral part of the country's cultural and political heritage. Many thousands of people make their way to Predappio every year, some from as far away as Japan and Australia, others brought by coach from all over Italy. This year, 2022, 28 October is the 100th anniversary of the March on Rome.
February 18, 2023
Before reading this book, I really was not aware of Mussolini's family and how his oldest daughter, Edda, impacted some of his policies before and during WWII. After WWI, Italy was a very poor country, and was not a world player like France and England were at the time. People were dissatisfied with how things were, and Mussolini was eventually the one who stepped up and tried to turn things around. Edda, as his oldest daughter, was born illegitimate and in poverty, but as her father's power in Italy grew over the years, so did her own status, both in Italy and around the world. She was not a political animal by any means, but seemed to affect things in Italy and the Axis countries before and during WWII.
Her life was not an easy one, either as an impoverished child, a rebeliant teenager, or a married woman dissatisfied with her life. Her marriage was not one of true love till almost its very end; many of her family were executed by the end of the war; she was never a maternal woman despite having three children. She had so many opportunities to affect change in her country, and frittered so many of them away. In the end, she paid for her actions, as did so many others in her family.
Her life was not an easy one, either as an impoverished child, a rebeliant teenager, or a married woman dissatisfied with her life. Her marriage was not one of true love till almost its very end; many of her family were executed by the end of the war; she was never a maternal woman despite having three children. She had so many opportunities to affect change in her country, and frittered so many of them away. In the end, she paid for her actions, as did so many others in her family.
February 25, 2023
The subtitle calls Edda Mussolini "the most dangerous woman in Europe" during the Fascist period in Italy (1922-1943) in which her father, Benito Mussolini, reigned supreme. She was more a celebrity than a danger. Something akin to modern day celebrities who are famous for being famous but have little else to recommend themselves. She lived richly, dressed fashionably, threw and attended glamorous parties, hobnobbed with the powerful in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, including Hitler, and neglected her children. Her father was a dictator and her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, his foreign minister. During WWII, she spent time working as a nurse, but this appears to be the only work she ever did. Though nothing in the book marked her as a dangerous woman, her story is still interesting, but mostly due to who her father and husband were, and not in her own right. Except that her efforts to save her husband from a Fascist firing squad after Mussolini's fall from power, and her escape to Switzerland to avoid capture and perhaps execution from anti-Fascist partisans as the Allies finished off Italy, were intriguing in their own right.
April 9, 2023
How curious that the most emancipated woman of Europe in the 1930s should have been Edda Ciano Mussolini, Il Duce's daughter. Man-taker, gambler, and reported drug user, Edda liberated herself while helping her father enslave his own people. She also had the dubious distinction of being one of the few women in politics Hitler liked; the fuhrer always sent her flowers on her birthday. She could not stop him, however, from ordering her husband, Count Ciano, to be executed (although technically Benito gave the order, and Edda swore never to speak his name aloud again). Edda lived an amazing life, from once owning hundreds of apartments in Rome alone to being forced, after the war, into one crammed hole in the wall. Edda grew fonder of "Papa" as the years passed, and always addressed him as "Il Duce" on Italian television. She passed into Fascist paradiso in 1995, complete with Catholic mass and crowds chanting "Duce! Duce! Duce!" bearing her coffin. Her eldest son, Fabrizio, wrote a terrific memoir, WHEN GRANDPA HAD DADDY SHOT.
February 5, 2023
Caroline Moorehead writes a challenging book about what happened in Europe just before the Second World War. The author takes you all the way to the end of WW2 in Europe.
The first half of the book shows what Hitler did in the 1930’s. We get a number of expiations of what he wanted to do and how he did it because of his skills as a speaker. The book does some of what explains important events that show how one group of people can do terrible things to other people. This part if a powerful few pages about how some churches followed Hitler.
It’s challenging to drive our brain through this book. Graduate students in a large of number of programs can probably get through the full book. It is a best read in a small group where there are different positions.
The first half of the book shows what Hitler did in the 1930’s. We get a number of expiations of what he wanted to do and how he did it because of his skills as a speaker. The book does some of what explains important events that show how one group of people can do terrible things to other people. This part if a powerful few pages about how some churches followed Hitler.
It’s challenging to drive our brain through this book. Graduate students in a large of number of programs can probably get through the full book. It is a best read in a small group where there are different positions.
May 28, 2023
Continuing my Italian thought leadership....billed as a biography of Edda, but in reality (like so many) this really was the story of the rise and fall of Mussolini. For me it was very helpful historical information about the Fascists leading to a much better understanding of Italy in the early 20th century. And yes, there was a bit of an emphasis on Edda, particularly after her father leaves power, but she certainly wasn't the whole scope of the book. This is good history, but not particularly narrative. I feel as though we learned all of the facts that the author compiled during her research - but without an overarching point of view. But, after Sisters in the Resistance, this was a much more comprehensive history of the times that I found very informative.
May 2, 2024
This book definitely got better as it went along, but the beginning was a hard read and I almost gave up on it. It feels like to me like the author forgot that not all readers are experts in Italian history. There were also many points where she would use Italian words or phrases without explaining what they mean. It felt like the author was stuck in her own head, started writing, and left all of the readers in the dust. Thus, this book is not easy to read. If she really felt that this story was important enough for others to know about, she should have done better with the writing. Still, I did learn a lot, even if the book was mostly about Mussolini and not Edda. I would be curious to try another one of her books, but I do not believe that this was her best work by any means.
May 26, 2023
An absorbing book about Italian political intrigue during the Second World War. Mussolini's daughter Edda, however, remains an enigmatic figure. While she certainly urged her father to go to war and was perceived as "The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe," there is little evidence that she personally shaped the course of events in fascist Italy. The book is as much about the conflict between her father and husband as it is about Edda herself. Edda's times come to life to a greater degree in the book than Edda's own activities. I would have been interested to read more about the societal changes experienced by Italian women over the course of the 20th century.
April 5, 2024
A decent read centered around the life of Mussolini's daughter Edda- Mussolini's favorite daughter and according to this historical account of her life effectively First Lady of Italy. Her mother was a tough no nonsense woman who chose to remain an Italian peasant and not follow publicly close to her husband Benito thus relinquishing those public duties to the favorite daughter. A rendering of this daughter Edda's as an enabler and beneficiary of Fascist crimes and as a victim of her father's Fascist regime. Edda and her husband Ciano were celebrated and glamorous people in elegant and vulgar Roman society.
May 21, 2023
I read a book called Stalin's Daughter by Rosemary Sullivan a number of years ago because you have to wonder about the children of these men. Stalin's daughter didn't have a very good life during and after he died.
This is not the case for Edda. She had her father's ear throughout his time in power. After he was killed, she had a few hard years, but she was allowed back and was left alone mostly.
This is not the case for Edda. She had her father's ear throughout his time in power. After he was killed, she had a few hard years, but she was allowed back and was left alone mostly.
June 14, 2023
I didn’t know anything about Edda Mussolini prior to this book. The book covers more than just Edda’s life. It addresses the rise of fascism and much of the book focuses on her father. And various men in her life. I didn’t mind. I found the book interesting due to the bigger picture it provided as the backdrop of her life. I’ve read many books in WW2 and the events leading up to the war but still learned new facts.
I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in history.
I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in history.
July 22, 2023
Another disappointing book titled to be about a female during WWII that doesn’t seem to provide that much focus on the title personality. While understanding that the context needs to better understand a persons reactions and role in events the writing in regard to Edda was superficial. They speak much of the amount of spying but little detail on her relationships and impacts. I know much was destroyed but still it just felt as though her character was largely glossed over.
February 23, 2023
Knowing absolutely nothing about Edda Mussolini and really the entire subject of Italian fascism, this was a fascinating read. She was a real force to be reckoned with and the family dynamics that influenced Italy's role in the years up to and including WWII provide some very interesting insight.
June 16, 2023
A fascinating, well written page turner, less about Edda Mussolini than a history of Fascism’s 20-year grip on Italy in general and Rome in particular. Well worth reading, especially in light of the election of the current prime minister, head of the Brothers of Italy, the most right-wing Conservative Party since WWII.
December 28, 2022
Why was Edda Mussolini so dangerous? Don't expect to learn anything about that in this boom. Mostly about the men in her life, there really is not a lot here that makes foe much discussion of her actual power, if she had any. Sadly disappointed in this one
February 9, 2023
Nice writing. Converts a biography into a drama. Sustains strong narrative momentum. Does an excellent job at explaining the intricate pieces that made for the Italian fascist intrigues. Solid 5 the whole way.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews