Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review
Italian Fascismâs Empire Cinema restores [empire films] to Italian and international film history and offers a case study of the intertwining of war and cinema and the unfolding of imperial policy in the context of dictatorship.
* Film History *
In bringing this cinematic history back to life, Ruth Ben-Ghiat treads a path of uncompromising empiricism and subtle textual analysis, which connects the multiple spaces of history and film and significantly advances our understanding of Fascist Italy.
* H-Nationalism *
A pathbreaking study of Fascist-era films set in Italian colonies in North and East Africa, Italian Fascism's Empire Cinema represents a major contribution to multiple fields, from the history of Italian Fascism and interwar European cultural politics to the history of colonialism and film history.
* Journal of Modern History *
The first comprehensive scholarly study of films made in or about the African and Balkan colonies of Mussolini's fascist empire, this book is genuinely groundbreaking and exceptionally insightful. . . . A balanced, judicious historian, [Ben-Ghiat] displays her wealth of archival knowledge and interpretive skills in a clear, straightforward narrative that proves utterly enthralling. . . . Essential.
* Choice *
Italian Fascism's Empire Cinema is the most subtle and detailed examination we have of a crucial element of the cultural practice of 'totalitarian' dictatorship, Italian-style.5/28/15
* Times Higher Education Supplement *
Italian Fascism's Empire Cinema contributes to an important rethinking of an understudied aspect of Italian history. . . . One hopes that this provocative work is only the beginning of an overdue conversation, and that future contributions will move beyond the doors of Italian archives to consult voices/sources/documents from the colonies themselves.
* H-Italy *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
1. Empire Cinema: Frames and Agendas
2. Italian Cinema and the Colonies to 1935
3. Mapping Empire Cinema, 1935-39
4. Coming Home to the Colonies
5. Imperial Bodies I: Italians and Askaris
6. Imperial Bodies II: Slaves of Love, Slaves of Labor
7. Film Policies and Cultures, 1940-1943
8. The End of Empire
Epilogue
Filmography
Notes
Bibliography
Index
