{"product_id":"mussolinis-nature-isbn-9780262544719","title":"Mussolini's Nature","description":"\u003cb\u003eThis exploration of the environmental practices of Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime invites readers to consider the ecological connections of all political projects.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“We might think we see a mountain while it was a war; a forest can actually be an engine; a monument to workers might reflect the violence of a colonial empire.”\u003cb\u003e—extracted from \u003ci\u003eMussolini’s Nature\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn this first environmental history of Italian fascism, Marco Armiero, Roberta Biasillo, and Wilko Graf von Hardenberg reveal that nature and fascist rhetoric are inextricable. \u003ci\u003eMussolini’s Nature\u003c\/i\u003e explores fascist political ecologies, or rather the practices and narratives through which the regime constructed imaginary and material ecologies functional to its political project. The book does not pursue the ghost of a green Mussolini by counting how many national parks were created during the regime or how many trees planted. Instead, the reader is trained to recognize fascist political ecology in Mussolini’s speeches, reclaimed landscapes, policies of economic self-sufficiency, propaganda documentaries, reforested areas, and in the environmental transformation of its colonial holdings.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe authors conclude with an examination of the role of fascist landscapes in the country’s postwar reconstruction: Mussolini’s nature is still visible today through plaques, monuments, toponomy, and the shapes of landscapes. This original, and surprisingly intimate, environmental history is not merely a chronicle of conservation in fascist Italy but also an invitation to consider the socioecological connections of all political projects. Acknowledgments ix\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction 1\u003cbr\u003e1 Mussolini's Embodied Nature 11\u003cbr\u003eMussolini Biographies 11\u003cbr\u003eThe Fascist Discourse of Nature 27\u003cbr\u003e2 Natural Wars: Wheat and Swamps 37\u003cbr\u003eRebirth or Continuity? 37\u003cbr\u003eThe Battle for Wheat 42\u003cbr\u003eIntegral Land Reclamation 44\u003cbr\u003ePropaganda and International Reception 49\u003cbr\u003eBetween Transformation and Protection 55\u003cbr\u003e3 Fascist Modernity 63\u003cbr\u003eAutarky 63\u003cbr\u003eDams 73\u003cbr\u003eThe Gasogene Engine 81\u003cbr\u003e4 The Regime of Protection 93\u003cbr\u003eInheriting Nature 93\u003cbr\u003eFascistization of Nature Protection 96\u003cbr\u003eFascist Parks 101\u003cbr\u003eBears in Black Shirts 107\u003cbr\u003eQuail, Sparrows, and Scientists 110\u003cbr\u003e5 The Ecologies of Empire 117\u003cbr\u003eImagining the Lands of Empire 117\u003cbr\u003eThe Rest of Nothing 121\u003cbr\u003eThe Deception behind the Miracle 131\u003cbr\u003eGold to the Motherland 141\u003cbr\u003eEmpire as Ecological Failure 150\u003cbr\u003e6 Fascist Landscapes Beyond Fascism 153\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNomen omen\u003c\/i\u003e: A Monument to Whom? 153\u003cbr\u003eA Past That Does Not Pass 160\u003cbr\u003eThe Fascist Landscape of the Republic 163\u003cbr\u003eWhat about Cities? 170\u003cbr\u003eInvisible Memories, Silent Monuments 176\u003cbr\u003eConclusion 179\u003cbr\u003eNotes 187\u003cbr\u003eReferences 213\u003cbr\u003eIndex 241“This important book for environmental history, Italian history, and the history of fascism shows how Italian fascists, in discourse and deeds, sought to subordinate nature to ideology.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—John R. McNeill, Distinguished University Professor, Georgetown University\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eMussolini’s Nature\u003c\/i\u003e surgically dissects the political ecology of Italian fascism, demonstrating how every political project is an environmental one, and vice versa. Essential reading not only for environmental historians but for all concerned by the current state of nature and the rise of all manner of authoritarian politics.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e ­—Erik Swyngedouw, Professor of Human Geography, The University of Manchester; author of \u003ci\u003eLiquid Power\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A major contribution to environmental history, that also demonstrates that fascism was never pro-environment or conservationist in any sense: a timely intervention.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Mia Fuller, Associate Professor of Italian Studies, UC Berkeley\u003c\/b\u003eMarco Armiero is ICREA Research Professor at the Institute for the History of Science, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, and ICREA - Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRoberta Biasillo is Assistant Professor of Contemporary Political History at Utrecht University. Wilko Graf von Hardenberg\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eis Research Scholar and PI of the project “The Sound of Nature: Soundscapes and Environmental Awareness, 1750–1950” at Humboldt University in Berlin.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300659744997,"sku":"NP9780262544719","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262544719.jpg?v=1767733199","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/mussolinis-nature-isbn-9780262544719","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}