Offers a neat capsule history of Italy in the first half of the century, particularly Mussolini’s rise to power…. Hit[s] home… in its inescapable parallels to our current situation. Ms. Moorehead never makes the point explicitly, and she doesn’t have to.” — Wall Street Journal
“An intimate family portrait…. Moorehead has done us a great service in restoring the humanity of the Rosselli family…. It’s the most complete portrait we have in English of this extraordinary family fighting—each in his or her own way—the most pernicious ideology of the last century.” — New York Times Book Review
“This account of a patriotic Italian-Jewish family at the forefront of the resistance to Mussolini’s regime follows the brothers.... But the center of the book is their mother, Amelia, a prominent playwright and feminist to whom they wrote frequently. Moorehead draws extensively on their letters, giving the reader an intimate sense of the everyday depredations of life under Fascism.” — New Yorker
“Much has been written about life under fascist rule.... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family. Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression.” — Guardian
“An extremely personal and engaging story about the price one family paid for its political resistance.... A must-read.” — Library Journal, starred review
“Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.” — Financial Times
“Moorehead recounts a story that deserves to be better known, exploiting her remarkable understanding of the nation and its culture.” — Max Hastings, London Sunday Times
“A haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance.” — Times (London)
“Shines light on the Rosselli family… to illuminate the treacherous and contradictory nature of life in Il Duce’s Italy…. As well versed in Italian socialism as she is in spy-novel tropes, Moorehead combines intellectual rigor with immersive storytelling that will appeal to specialists and casual readers alike.” — Publishers Weekly
“An absorbing, well-documented narrative…. A vivid portrait of resistance in dark, perilous times that is not without contemporary relevance.” — Kirkus
“An inspiring story, well told.” — Booklist
Much has been written about life under fascist rule.... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family. Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression.”
A haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance.
Moorehead recounts a story that deserves to be better known, exploiting her remarkable understanding of the nation and its culture.
Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.
An inspiring story, well told.
An inspiring story, well told.
Offers a neat capsule history of Italy in the first half of the century, particularly Mussolini’s rise to power…. Hit[s] home… in its inescapable parallels to our current situation. Ms. Moorehead never makes the point explicitly, and she doesn’t have to.
This account of a patriotic Italian-Jewish family at the forefront of the resistance to Mussolini’s regime follows the brothers.... But the center of the book is their mother, Amelia, a prominent playwright and feminist to whom they wrote frequently. Moorehead draws extensively on their letters, giving the reader an intimate sense of the everyday depredations of life under Fascism.
Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.
Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.
A moving novelistic portrait. . . . An inspiring and fascinating read.
People on A Train in Winter
By turns heartbreaking and inspiring.
New York Times Book Review on A Train in Winter
A compelling and moving book. . . . . The literature of wartime France and the Holocaust is by now so vast as to confound the imagination, but when a book as good as this comes along, we are reminded that there is always room for something new.
Washington Post on A Train in Winter
Le Chambon has long been mythologized in France for the actions of its inhabitants, who sheltered the refugees and helped many escape to Switzerland. But, as this riveting history shows, the story is more complex.
The New Yorker on Village of Secrets
The definitive account.
Wall Street Journal on Village of Secrets
Compelling and deeply informed…. [Moorehead] has done us the great service of unveiling the real lives behind the myth and in demonstrating that fallible human beings are far more interesting and dramatic figures than those who make up the stuff of legends.
New York Times Books Review on Village of Secrets
A haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance.
Moorehead’s portrait of the Rosselli brothers is at once a political history of pre-second world war Italy, a beautiful literary portrait of two brave young men, and a gripping tale of intrigue, espionage and escape.... I finished it impressed, breathless and enormously moved.
A major contribution to the study of anti-Fascism, further enriched by Caroline Moorehead’s vivid portrayal of interwar Italy and Europe.
Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.
Carefully, and with considerable skill, Moorehead juxtaposes the growth into maturity of the intelligent Florentines, Carlo and Nello, with a vivid account of the turbulent conditions that enabled Fascism to take root.”
Much has been written about life under fascist rule.... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family. Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression.
Making judicious use of thousands of letters, Moorehead paints an intimate family portrait…[She] writes engagingly about domestic matters, the tension inherent in the underground resistance and even the dreary monotony of life in confino on the remote penal islands…Moorehead has done us a great service in restoring the humanity of the Rosselli family. She reminds us that these anti-fascists "regarded moralitytruth, integrity, honesty, as opposed to fascist venality and bullyingas lying at the heart of their anti-fascism." It's the most complete portrait we have in English of this extraordinary family fightingeach in his or her own waythe most pernicious ideology of the last century.
The New York Times Book Review - Stanislao G. Pugliese
09/11/2017 Overshadowed by the traumas of the world wars and less cinematic than the Spanish Civil War, the long struggle against fascism in Italy remains obscure and its major figures on both sides unfamiliar. Historian Moorehead (Priam’s Gold) shines light on the Rosselli family—the ill-fated brothers Carlo and Nello and their pioneering feminist mother, Amelia—to illuminate the treacherous and contradictory nature of life in Il Duce’s Italy. As Mussolini gained power, Nello, the activist firebrand, and Carlo, the reflective intellectual, became antifascists committed to “saving Italy from violent, unprincipled rule.” Interweaving the Rossellis’ personal lives with discussion of Italian political movements, intellectual currents, and the machinations of the fascists, Moorehead explores the psyche of a nation, and a family, under siege. Moorehead contends that, in the early days, “had they been united and strong, the forces of democracy might have proved a match for the fascists,” but the left was badly fractured and ill-prepared to confront squads of club-wielding goons who seemingly sprang up from nowhere. These squadristi, composed largely of “people accustomed to solving problems with violence,” took up “punitive expeditions against left-wing rallies, institutions, newspapers, and factories they considered ‘nests of subversion.’ ” As well versed in Italian socialism as she is in spy-novel tropes, Moorehead combines intellectual rigor with immersive storytelling that will appeal to specialists and casual readers alike. B+w photos. (Oct.)
An intimate family portrait…. Moorehead has done us a great service in restoring the humanity of the Rosselli family…. It’s the most complete portrait we have in English of this extraordinary family fighting—each in his or her own way—the most pernicious ideology of the last century.
New York Times Book Review
This account of a patriotic Italian-Jewish family at the forefront of the resistance to Mussolini’s regime follows the brothers.... But the center of the book is their mother, Amelia, a prominent playwright and feminist to whom they wrote frequently. Moorehead draws extensively on their letters, giving the reader an intimate sense of the everyday depredations of life under Fascism.
Offers a neat capsule history of Italy in the first half of the century, particularly Mussolini’s rise to power…. Hit[s] home… in its inescapable parallels to our current situation. Ms. Moorehead never makes the point explicitly, and she doesn’t have to.
Much has been written about life under fascist rule.... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family. Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression.
A haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance.
★ 09/01/2017 In the third book of her "Resistance" trilogy (after A Train in Winter and Village of Secrets), historian Moorehead turns her attentive eye to the earliest resisters of Italy's National Fascist Party, led by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini from 1922 to 1943. The Rosellis, including matriarch Amelia and sons Nello and Carlo, belonged to the Italian aristocracy, making their fortune from stocks in mercury mines. The family's opposition to fascism stemmed from Amelia's deep national pride, formed in her childhood years following Italian unification. This dedication to her country, combined with an ingrained sense of integrity, honesty, and morality contributed to Amelia and her sons becoming fierce and unrelenting critics of the regime, which ultimately led to the deaths of Carlo and Nello at the hands of a French far-right group at the behest of the Fascists. Based in part on letters preserved by the family and secret police files, Moorehead's account tells an extremely personal and engaging story about the price one family paid for its political resistance. VERDICT A must-read for fans of the author's previous works and those interested in World War II and resistance movements. [See Prepub Alert, 5/1/17.]—Chad E. Statler, Lakeland Comm. Coll., Kirtland, OH
2017-07-04 A history of the Italian family who mounted an intrepid campaign against Mussolini.After World War I, fascism took hold in war-torn Italy, culminating in the rise of 39-year-old Mussolini as the nation's youngest prime minister. In 1922, supported by the royal family, the Vatican, and about 25,000 well-trained Blackshirts, Mussolini, demanding "full powers" to lead, faced weak opposition by socialists, communists, and liberals. In an absorbing, well-documented narrative, historian Moorehead (Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France, 2014, etc.) focuses on the Rosselli family—brothers Carlo and Nello and their mother, Amelia—who became tireless leaders of an anti-fascist movement that grew in strength as Mussolini's reign of terror intensified. "Fascism," writes the author, "quickly spread its tentacles over the fabric of Italian life. The army, the aristocracy, the Church and industry, all were rallying to defend the rights of a usurper." Drawing on thousands of family letters as well as biographies of Mussolini and histories of the period, Moorehead powerfully depicts the family's anger and despair as Italy succumbed to what Carlo called "an enormous black plague." Although at first some anti-fascists hoped that Mussolini, who was "boastful, vain, cruel and erratic," would fail on his own, it soon became clear that they needed to wage a real battle. By 1927, Mussolini had abolished elections and installed himself as minister "of foreign affairs, of the interior, of war, of the navy and air force, and of corporations." Textbooks were rewritten and journalists fired if they showed "aversion" to fascism. Anti-fascists grew stronger, with Carlo standing as "the most prominent leader of the non-communist anti-fascist opposition." The author chronicles the efforts by Carlo and Nello that led to repeated arrests and incarcerations on Italy's prison islands. When he was released, Carlo took up a frantic pace of writing and speeches, traveling to Paris, London, and, during the Spanish Civil War, Spain. Constantly in Mussolini's cross hairs, the brothers finally were assassinated: 200,000 people followed their funeral procession. A vivid portrait of resistance in dark, perilous times that is not without contemporary relevance.