Italo Balbo: A Fascist Life

Pioneering aviator, blackshirt leader, colonial governor, confidante and heir—apparent to Benito Mussolini, the dashing and charismatic Italo Balbo exemplified the ideals of Fascist Italy during the 1920s and 30s. He earned national notoriety after World War I as a ruthless squadrista whose blackshirt forces crushed socialist and trade union organizations. As Minister of Aviation from 1926 to 1933, he led two internationally heralded mass trans—Atlantic flights. When his aerial armada reach...