The United States and Fascist Italy: The Rise of American Finance in Europe

by Gian Giacomo Migone, Molly Tambor (Translation)

Originally published in Italian in 1980, Gli Stati Uniti e il Alle origini dell'egemonia Americana in Italia is regarded today as a crucial text on the relationship between the United States and Italy during the interwar years. Aside from the addition of two new prefaces – one by the author and one by the book's translator, Molly Tambor – the original text has remained unchanged, so that Anglophone readers now have the opportunity to engage with this classic work. By analyzing the enduring relationship between the United States – especially its financial establishment – and fascist Italy up until Mussolini's conquest of Ethiopia in 1935, this book provides answers to some key questions about the interconnectedness of America's rise to hegemonic global financial power in the twentieth century and its support of Italian fascism during this time.

Genres: History, Italy, Conspiracy Theories, Nonfiction

453 pages, Hardcover

First published January 31, 2015

Reviews

[Ernest Ialongo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful argument for the continuities of American economic foreign policy from the post-WWI period to the post-WWII period, one in which the primary goal was the stabilization of Europe as an outlet for American exports and investments, and as a bulwark against the spread of communism. Mussolini, instead of being viewed as a destroyer of democracy in Italy, a not unexpected conclusion from a liberal democratic country, was instead seen as the guarantor of stability in Italy, a willing partner in the stabilization of both the Italian and broader European economies, and a defender of capitalism from alternative economic models. It was only the Depression and the definitive contraction of American economic involvement in Europe that broke this close relationship, would lead Italy down the road of autarchy and an aggressive foreign policy, and would finally convince the Americans that Mussolini was, in fact, a dangerous player on the international stage, and, allied with Hitler, a likely future enemy.