Caroline Moorehead Ordine dei libri (cronologico)

"Edda Mussolini was the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini's oldest and favorite child. At 19, she was married to Count Galleazzo Ciano, Il Duce's Minister for Foreign Affairs during the 1930s, the most turbulent decade in Italy's fascist history. In the years preceding World War II, Edda ruled over Italy's aristocratic families and the cultured and middle classes while selling Fascism on the international stage. How a young woman wielded such control is the heart of Caroline Moore's fascinating history. The issues that emerge reveal not only a great deal about the power of fascism, but also the ease with which dictatorship so easily took hold in a country weakened by war and a continent mired in chaos and desperate for peace. Drawing on a wealth of archival material, some newly released, along with memoirs and personal papers, Mussolini's Daughter paints a portrait of a woman in her twenties whose sheer force of character and ruthless narcissism helped impose a brutal and vulgar movement on a pliable and complicit society. Yet as Moorehead shows, not even Edda's colossal willpower, her scheming, nor her father's avowed love could save her husband from Mussolini's brutal vengeance." -- Publisher marketing

Edda Mussolini was Benito's favourite daughter- spoilt, venal, uneducated but clever, faithless but flamboyant, a brilliant diplomat, wild but brave, and ultimately strong and loyal. She was her father's confidante during the 20 years of Fascist rule, acting as envoy to both Germany and Britain, and playing a part in steering Italy to join forces with Hitler. From her early twenties she was effectively first lady of Italy. She married Galeazzo Ciano, who would become the youngest Foreign Secretary in Italian history, and they were the most celebrated and glamorous couple in elegant, vulgar Roman fascist society. Their fortunes turned in 1943, when Ciano voted against Mussolini in a plot to bring him down, and his father-in-law did not forgive him. In a dramatic story that takes in hidden diaries, her father's fall and her husband's execution, an escape into Switzerland and a period in exile, we come to know a complicated, bold and determined woman who emerges not just as a witness but as a key player in some of the twentieth century's defining moments. And we see Fascist Italy with all its glamour, decadence and political intrigue, and the turbulence before its violent end.

Set in the remote villages of the southern Massif Central in France, this narrative explores the remarkable history of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon during World War II. The local inhabitants courageously sheltered thousands from the Gestapo, including resisters, Freemasons, communists, and primarily Jewish orphans whose parents had been deported. Their collective bravery and moral conviction highlight a profound act of humanity amidst the horrors of war.

Set in early 20th-century Florence, the narrative follows the Rosselli family, particularly matriarch Amelia, as they confront the rise of fascism under Mussolini. With a strong commitment to antifascism, her sons, Carlo and Nello, boldly oppose the regime, risking their status among the elite. As Mussolini's oppressive police state takes hold, the family's resistance evolves into active defiance, highlighting the tension between cultural aristocracy and political conviction in a time of national turmoil.

Dvadsiateho piateho marca 1942 takmer tisíc mladých nevydatých židovských žien a dievčat nastúpilo v Poprade do vlaku. Oblečené v najlepších šatách dôverčivo zakývali na rozlúčku svojim rodičom a vo vidine dobrodružstva odišli do sveta. Prihlásili sa na „prácu“, lebo verili, že si odkrútia pár mesiacov v nejakej továrni a vrátia sa domov. Realita však bola celkom iná – poslali ich rovno do Osvienčimu, kde ich nútili otročiť. Vláda slovenského štátu zaplatila Nemcom 500 ríšskych mariek za každého takto „vysídleného“ Žida alebo Židovku. Z 999 deportovaných žien a dievčat z prvého transportu prežilo len niekoľko. O prvom oficiálnom židovskom transporte do Osvienčimu sa vie len málo, ale tieto skutočnosti sú ešte aj dnes veľmi dôležité. V dobytčiakoch sa netlačili partizáni ani vojnoví zajatci, muži v ňom totiž vôbec neboli. Len necelá tisícka mladých dievčat a žien, ktoré slovenské vládne orgány poslali na takmer istú smrť. Bezmocné a bezvýznamné neboli len pre svoj židovský pôvod, ale aj preto, že to boli ženy. Heather Dune Macadam, uznávaná autorka z USA, odkrýva ich tragické príbehy založené na rozhovoroch s preživšími, na konzultáciách s historikmi, očitými svedkami a na rozhovoroch s príbuznými prvých žien deportovaných zo Slovenska do Osvienčimu. Jej kniha je dôležitým doplnkom v mozaike literatúry o holokauste a o histórii žien.

"On March 25, 1942, nearly a thousand young, unmarried Jewish women boarded a train in Poprad, Slovakia. Filled with a sense of adventure and national pride, they left their parents' homes wearing their best clothes and confidently waving good-bye. Believing they were going to work in a factory for a few months, they were eager to report for government service. Instead, the young women--many of them teenagers--were sent to Auschwitz. Their government paid 500 Reich Marks (about $200) apiece for the Nazis to take them as slave labor. Of those 999 innocent deportees, only a few would survive. The facts of the first official Jewish transport to Auschwitz are little known, yet profoundly relevant today. These were not resistance fighters or prisoners of war. There were no men among them. Sent to almost certain death, the young women were powerless and insignificant not only because they were Jewish--but also because they were female. Now acclaimed author Heather Dune Macadam reveals their poignant stories, drawing on extensive interviews with survivors, and consulting with historians, witnesses, and relatives of those first deportees to create an important addition to Holocaust literature and women's history."-- Provided by publisher

In the late summer of 1943, when Italy changed sides in the War and the Germans - now their enemies - occupied the north of the country, an Italian Resistance was born. Ada, Frida, Silvia and Bianca were four young Piedmontese women who joined the Resistance, living clandestinely in the mountains surrounding Turin. They were not alone. Between 1943 and 1945, as the Allies battled their way north, thousands of men and women throughout occupied Italy rose up and fought to liberate their country from the German invaders and their Fascist collaborators. The bloody civil war that ensued across the country pitted neighbour against neighbour, and brought out the best and worst in Italian society. The courage shown by the partisans was exemplary, and eventually bound them together as a coherent fighting force. The women's contribution was invaluable - they fought, carried messages and weapons, provided safe houses, laid mines and took prisoners. Ada's house deep in the mountains became a meeting place and refuge for many of them

A gripping tale of intrigue... I was enormously moved Observer

From the author of the bestseller A Train in Winter comes the remarkable tale of a French village that saved thousands, including many Jewish children, from the Gestapo during World War II. Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a small village nestled in the mountains of the Ardèche, became a sanctuary for those pursued by the Nazis. Isolated by snow for long stretches in winter, its residents sheltered resisters, freemasons, communists, downed Allied airmen, and primarily Jews, many of whom were children separated from their deported parents. After the war, Le Chambon was uniquely recognized in its entirety in Yad Vashem's Dictionary of the Just. The full story of how this village managed to protect so many remains largely untold. Acclaimed biographer and historian Caroline Moorehead recounts a narrative of exceptional bravery and collective action against German rule. In a country notorious for denouncing Jews and resisters, not a single inhabitant of Le Chambon ever revealed the identities of those they sheltered. The village, united by a code of honor stemming from centuries of religious oppression, exemplifies how a small group of heroic individuals—many of them women—prioritized saving lives over their own safety, creating a powerful legacy of resistance and compassion.