He and his wife, Susan, live in Providence. He has twice been awarded the Marraro Prize from the Society for Italian Historical Studies for the best work on Italian history. A ground-breaking work, based on seven years of research in the Vatican and. He is the author of nine books, including The Popes Against the Jews, which was a finalist for the Mark Lynton History Prize, and The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. The compelling story of Pope Pius XIs secret relations with Benito Mussolini. University Professor of Social Science and professor of anthropology and Italian studies at Brown University, where he served as provost from 2006 to 2011. Reaching from Sistine Chapel conclaves to roaring Fascist crowds, The Pope and Mussolini is a thrilling history, surprising and finely-wrought.ĭavid Kertzer is the Paul Dupee, Jr. David Kertzer won a Pulitzer Prize in 2015 for his book 'The Pope And Mussolini' about the secret relationship between Pope Pius XI and the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Even in the face of Mussolini's increasing embrace of Hitler, each man relied on the other to consolidate his power and pursue his political goals. In exchange, the pope expected Mussolini to use his repressive reach to enforce Catholic morality. Contrary to the widely accepted account of this time, in which a heroic Church does battle with the Fascist regime, David Kertzer shows that Mussolini would not have been able to impose his dictatorship on Italy without the pope's support. The two men - one scholarly and devout, the other an anti-clerical rabble-rouser-came to power in Rome in the same year, 1922. With the recent opening of the Vatican archives covering Pius XI's papacy, the full story of his dealings with the Italian dictator can be told for the first time in The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe ($32.00).

This groundbreaking work, based on seven years of research in the Vatican and Fascist archives, including reports from Mussolini’s spies inside the highest levels of the Church, will forever.

Kertzer comes the gripping story of Pope Pius XI’s secret relations with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. From National Book Award-finalist David Kertzer, an explosive book that exposes the fractious, co-dependent relationship between Pope Pius XI and Mussolini. From National Book Award finalist David I.

The pope and mussolini book