Il Duce's Other Woman

"[A] well-informed account of the woman behind Mussolini's rise to power... Margherita Sarfatti, an art critic and daughter of an influential Venetian Jewish family... became known as his 'inspiratrice,' directing his reading (Proudhon and Machiavelli, among others), bolstering his belief in his greatness, and helping him to mold his vision of a new Roman Empire. Though an ardent socialist, Sarfatti supported Italian involvement in WWI, an action that got her expelled from the Socialist Par...