Book Reviews & the Historical Conversation
"How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy, 1922-1945 by Victoria De Grazia," Review by: Marta Petrusewicz. International Labor and Working-Class History, No. 46, ILWCH Roundtable: What Next for Labor and Working-Class History? (Fall, 1994), pp. 211-214.
Petrusewicz’s review characterizes De Grazia’s book as both “an
excellent and broad survey [and] an extremely intelligent and interpretatively
ambitious social history of fascism, understood as ideology, law, and
government” (211). She proceeds to
summarize De Grazia’s work, referencing the author’s point that the Italian
Fascist government not only represented regression in the arena of women’s
rights, but was also self-contradictory in its attempts to create in women both
national patriots and home-bound reproducers.
Petrusewicz criticizes the book for giving unequal treatment to its many
themes, however: “Some topics – for example, the impact of mass culture – are carefully
thought through; others, like the subject of resistance, get too hasty a
treatment” (213). Overall, Petrusewicz
recognizes both De Grazia’s importance to the field of modern Italy and the
great value of this book’s contribution to the historical conversation.
"How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy, 1922-1945 by Victoria De Grazia," Review by Jacqueline Reich. Italica, Vol. 71, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), pp. 132-133
Reich’s review characterizes De Grazia’s book as “an invaluable contribution to the ongoing reevaluation of this [interwar] period in Italian history,” (132) reveling in the author’s presentation of the struggles within the Italian Fascist state to encourage modernization while simultaneously enforcing traditional domestic values. Reich praises the way that De Grazia reframes the Italian woman’s interwar experience as one of (limited) agency instead of passive deference. Reich has only a few criticisms for De Grazia’s work, which she says are important nonetheless, and include the author’s failure to include the Italian names of Fascist organizations and her lack of attention to a “chronological sequence of events” (133). Overall, however, Reich sees this book as a groundbreaking study in English on the lives of Italian women during the interwar period.
"How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy, 1922-1945 by Victoria De Grazia," Review by Mary Gibson. The American Historical Review, Vol. 98, No. 2 (April, 1993), pp 526-527.
Gibson’s review identifies the gap in the historical study
of Italian women that Victoria De Grazia’s book has filled. “Many of us in Italian history,” she says, “have
long awaited a study like Victoria De Grazia’s book. Outside of a few excellent articles, little
has been available in English on the experience of Italian women between the
two world wars for use by scholars or in the classroom” (526). She points out that De Grazia has proven that
women’s lives in the twentieth century were not static, but contantly and “heavily
influenced by policies of the state” (526).
Although Gibson contends that the state did in fact attempt to control
women before the interwar period, she largely affirms De Grazia’s point that
the 20s and 30s saw the first organized attempt at major political intervention
in women’s lives. She recognizes the
book’s most original contribution to the historical conversation in its
exploration of the lives of young Italian girls in the interwar period, and her
biggest qualm with the book concerns De Grazia’s shorter focus on working-class
women than on middle-class and aristocratic women.
De Grazia's Contribution?
These reviews tell us that De Grazia’s book, while certainly possessing the minor flaws that any broad historical survey is prone to, is an incredibly important contribution to the historical conversation on Italian Fascism, and more specifically the roles and experiences of women in interwar Italy. Each reviewer has their own reservations about the book; Gibson, for example, wants more information to be included about Italian working-class women, given their considerable role in the Italian labor force and De Grazia’s comparatively greater attention to the lives of middle-class and aristocratic women. Reich has a couple criticisms as well, referencing De Grazia’s use of English acronyms for Fascist organizations instead of their full Italian names (which would be of better use to Italian historians) and her occasional inattention to the importance of chronology. Petrusewicz, finally, looks for more even focus in the book’s general themes, referring to the lesser development of the theme of resistance when compared to the idea of mass culture. While all these writers include various criticisms, the mark of a good academic review, none of them ever stand in doubt of the weighty importance of Victoria De Grazia’s contribution to Italian women’s history. Her exploration of the contradictory Fascist regime, which sought to make modern patriots out of women while simultaneously confining them to traditional domestic roles, goes hand in hand with her reevaluation of Italian women as active participants in Italian society rather than passive victims of a patriarchal regime. De Grazia’s work, therefore, not only contributes extensively to the study of Italian women, but also informs the greater historical emphasis on the agency of subaltern groups.
These reviews tell us that De Grazia’s book, while certainly possessing the minor flaws that any broad historical survey is prone to, is an incredibly important contribution to the historical conversation on Italian Fascism, and more specifically the roles and experiences of women in interwar Italy. Each reviewer has their own reservations about the book; Gibson, for example, wants more information to be included about Italian working-class women, given their considerable role in the Italian labor force and De Grazia’s comparatively greater attention to the lives of middle-class and aristocratic women. Reich has a couple criticisms as well, referencing De Grazia’s use of English acronyms for Fascist organizations instead of their full Italian names (which would be of better use to Italian historians) and her occasional inattention to the importance of chronology. Petrusewicz, finally, looks for more even focus in the book’s general themes, referring to the lesser development of the theme of resistance when compared to the idea of mass culture. While all these writers include various criticisms, the mark of a good academic review, none of them ever stand in doubt of the weighty importance of Victoria De Grazia’s contribution to Italian women’s history. Her exploration of the contradictory Fascist regime, which sought to make modern patriots out of women while simultaneously confining them to traditional domestic roles, goes hand in hand with her reevaluation of Italian women as active participants in Italian society rather than passive victims of a patriarchal regime. De Grazia’s work, therefore, not only contributes extensively to the study of Italian women, but also informs the greater historical emphasis on the agency of subaltern groups.