The Woman Who Shot Mussolini

By Frances Stonor Saunders

Book Overview

In a grand tragic narrative, full of suspense and mystery, conspiracy and backroom diplomacy, Saunders vividly resurrects the life and times of Violet Gibson, a woman who sought to stop the rise of Fascism, whatever the cost.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805091211
• ISBN13: 9780805091212
• Release Date: March 2010
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.4" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

A Deeper Look at One of History's Footnotes

Here is an interesting piece of history. I didn't know of Violet Gibson, nor of her attempt to kill Mussolini. I picked up this book because I wanted to read about Italy around the time that my grandparents left it. The book had some of cultural milieu I was looking for. I learned about Italian law and justice at the time, the women's prisons run by nuns, the treatment of the mentally ill and the general tenor of Mussolini's adoring crowds. In the chapter "Stigmata" there is a section on the Fascist view of women. There is also interesting material English-Irish politics in the post-Victorian era. Besides this and the slice of history it covers, the book provokes a lot of thought. There is the disparity in treatment of Mussolini's would be assassins; how the Fascists used the assassination attempts as an excuse to solidify dictatorial control; the changing views on Mussolini by such powerful figures as the Chamberlain brothers and Winston Churchill; the post-war treatment of Ezra Pound vs that of Violet Gibson; how mental institutions can create conditions that induce or increase the probability of derangement symptoms, etc. As an alternative history, had Violet Gibson done this 15 years hence, would she have been a heroine? While this is not an essential read for historians, it will certainly hold your interest.