So I read a lot of history, but I've noticed a lack of general histories of Mussolini's Italy (ala Richard Evan's History of Nazi Germany) especially in English. Most of the books on Fascist Italy tend to focus either entirely on Mussolini or on Italy's relationship with Nazi Germany. Was wondering if anybody could recommend (preferably in English) any works (single or multi-volume) that dealt in detail with the history of Fascist Italy on it's own terms, rather than just as a compare/contrast example with Hitler's Germany or Nazism vs Fascism, etc. I don't mind if it's dense or long or whatever, I just need to fill this gap in my library!
Victoria de Grazia's book on women in the fascist regime is great!
R. J. W. Bosworth's Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915-1945 is a rough analogue to Evans's Third Reich trilogy. trying to construct a compact history of life and society under a dictatorship. Fascist Voices: An Intimate History of Mussolini's Italy by Christopher Duggan provides a social history of the regime from the standpoint of its various subjects. The history of leisure and consumption is quite popular within historical circles and Victoria de Grazia's The Culture of Consent: Mass Organisation of Leisure in Fascist Italy covers how the fascist state tried to both control its population while simultaneously trying to make good on its promises of delivering modernity and prosperity.