The machine has a soul : American sympathy with Italian fascism / Katy Hull.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hull, Catherine Susan Mary, 1978- author.

Series:

America in the world.

America in the world

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fascism--Italy.

Fascism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 251 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, [2021]

Summary:

In the interwar years, the United States grappled with economic volatility, and Americans expressed anxieties about a decline in moral values, the erosion of families and communities, and the decay of democracy. These issues prompted a profound ambivalence toward modernity, leading some individuals to turn to Italian fascism as a possible solution for the problems facing the country. This book delves into why Americans of all stripes sympathized with Italian fascism, and shows that fascism's appeal rested in the image of Mussolini's regime as 'the machine which will run and has a soul' - a seemingly efficient and technologically advanced system that upheld tradition, religion, and family.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction: The Machine with a Soul

1. The Good Adventure: Fascist Squads in a War-Weary World

2. Mystic in a Morning Coat: Americans' Mussolini in the 1920s

3. The Dream Machine: The Fascist State in an Era of Democratic Disillusionment

4. Man as the Measure of All Things: Sympathizing with Fascism in the Early Depression Years

5. The Garden of Fascism: Beauty, Transcendence, and Peace in an Era of Uncertainty

Conclusion: Searching for Soul under the Sign of the Machine

Notes

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2021.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780691208121

9780691208138

0691208131

OCLC:

1228505050