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Giuseppe Mazzini and the Origins of Fascism , by Sullam Simon Levis , Basingstoke , Palgrave Macmillan , 2015, x+206 pp., £55.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-137-51458-5
Simon Levis Sullam's monograph aptly traces a strident, productive lineage between the figure of Giuseppe Mazzini and the political ideology of the Fascist regime. The book aims to answer some key questions about the role Mazzini played across two centuries, as well as to show how he acted as a mediator across divergent political forces and groups, while also being able to maintain an ideological and political stance exceededing that of the father of the nation. Sullam answers these questions by 'reconstructing certain central aspects of Mazzini's thought and by examining certain examples of the high regard in which he was held' (p. 2). The larger issue at stake is, however, the relationship between the Risorgimento and the regime, and their forms of continuity and rupture. In this respect, the chapters following on from the clear introduction thematically scrutinise precisely such possible continuities within a discontinous historical periodisation (Risorgimento, Fascism, anti-fascism). As the author states, his analysis moves across the forms in which the imposing figure of Mazzini has been ideologically appropriated. He continues: 'What I mean by ideology is, on the one hand [...], a series of cultural and conceptual elements that define a given political project or tendency; on the other hand, it is...