Description
Book SynopsisFocuses on how the fascist dictatorship defined the place of women in modern Italy and how women experienced the Duce's rule. This work offers a detailed characterization of Italian women's ambiguous and ambivalent experience of a regime that promised modernity, yet denied women emancipation.
Trade Review"This noteworthy study reveals how the regime of Il Duce, Benito Mussolini, systematically sought to prevent Italian women from experiencing emancipation even as he heralded the advent of the "new Italian woman." . . . Analyzing the deep conflict between modernity and traditional patriarchal authority, de Grazia defines the emerging ideals of Italian womanhood in the 1920s and '30s when Catholic, Fascist and commercial models of conduct competed to shape women's perceptions of themselves and of their society. . . . The product of meticulous research and deep contemplation, the book is an important contribution to women's studies." * Publishers Weekly *
"Extremely well researched and drawing upon a vast array of sources, this is the first full-length study of the experiences of women under Italian fascism." * Library Journal *
Table of ContentsPreface
1. THE NATIONALIZATION OF WOMEN
2. THE LEGACY OF LIBERALISM
3· MOTHERHOOD
4· THE FAMILY VERSUS THE STATE
5· GROWING UP
6. WORKING
7· GOING OUT
8. WOMEN'S POLITICS IN A NEW KEY
9· THERE WILL COME A DAY
Notes
Index
