Giovanni Huss il veridico

by Benito Mussolini, Renzo De Felice (Preface)

Giovanni Huss eretico, riformista, fustigatore di costumi, schivo da ogni forma di tirannia sia morale che politica, trova in Mussolini, allora libero pensatore (1913), il suo cantore che lo innalza a mitico simbolo della difesa della libertà e contro ogni tirannia. "Consegnando questo libretto alle stampe, formulo l'augurio ch'esso susciti nell'animo dei lettori l'odio per qualunque forma di tirannia spirituale o profana: sia essa teocratica o giacobina". Queste parole chiudono la presentazione che lo stesso Benito Mussolini faceva alla prima edizione del libro nel 1913 ma, gli eventi successivi, da egli stesso provocati, lo porteranno a ricusare il testo e il contenuto ritirando l'edizione dal commercio per preparare i Patti Lateranensi.

Genres: Biography

105 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1913

About the author

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian dictator who founded and led the National Fascist Party (PNF). He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 1943, as well as Duce of Italian fascism from the establishment of the Italian Fasces of Combat in 1919 until his summary execution in 1945 by Italian partisans. As dictator of Italy and principal founder of fascism, Mussolini inspired and supported the international spread of fascist movements during the inter-war period.

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Benito Mussolini's biography of "John Huss," or Jan Hus as most prefer to call him, the Czech theologian and reformer, is a fairly straightforward account. Naturally it lacks the effervescence of Idi Amin's book on Martin Luther, and in terms of depth of research, it can't compete with Pol Pot's biography of John Wycliffe. You wouldn't know this was by Mussolini if it weren't for the full page photos of Il Duce with his family, and Il Duce commemorating the March on Rome one year later, and the adoring introduction.

"Our purpose in undertaking its publication," wrote the Italian Book Co. in 1939, "is to show how the great leader of the Italian people has shown himself even in his earlier years a man of original political ideas and of deep knowledge acquired mostly by his vast, thoughtful readings. As it will be shown, he was already gifted in his early youth with a critical mind, a complex soul, prone to analyze men and events. In this book we find the seed of his Fascist Doctrine which he was subsequently to expound, and which led to the moral and political transformation of Italy. ...We publish it as a reverent homage to the Duce, to bring out the figure of a great writer who remains in the shadow of the statesman. ...His ideas may be discussed but his name and work belong to history and will be more serenely evaluated by posterity."

The astonishing number and variety of typos made this a rather distracting read:

deliveranc of the people
archibishop (repeatedly)
villany
Whycliffe
hertics
hertical
Germon Emperor
pariarchs
Nietsche
dictrines
obuses
wordly
priets
nackedness
seige
bread an wine
favovrably
innosence
plasphemies
othere

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mussolini is likely the last person a typical reader might expect to have written a biography about John Huss, a 15th century Czech Protestant reformer. Anticipating Luther and Calvin by over 100 years, Huss's revolution was brutally crushed and he was burned at the stake as a heretic. But Huss, along with John Wycliffe in England, managed to sow seeds of discord in the egregiously corrupt Roman Catholic church.
Mussolini's style is hyper-actively colorful but engaging and compelling. Like many historians of his day, much personal emotion and opinion is injected into the prose. Where the book falls down is in the lack of bibliography and index. Huss requires a much more in-depth treatment than Mussolini gives him. But the reader must admire Mussolini's way with words.
This is a rare book but if the reader has a chance to borrow or purchase a copy, it makes a nice addition to the personal library.