Renzo De Felice
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Renzo De Felice (8 April 1929 - 25 May 1996) was an Italian historian of Fascism. He was born in Rieti and studied under Federico Chabod and Delio Cantimori at the University of Naples. During his time as student, De Felice was a member of the Italian Communist Party. Later, De Felice was to break with the Communists and moved somewhat towards the right. He was taught history at the University of Rome. He married Livia De Ruggiero. He died in Rome.
De Felice was best known for a massive seven volume biography of Benito Mussolini that was unfinished at the time of his death. De Felice was the founder and editor of the influential journal, Storia Contemporanea. De Felice also wrote well-regarded history of Jewish life under the Fascist government and articles on Italian Jacobinism.
De Felice's leading interest was in fascism. In his view, there were two types of fascism, "fascism as a movement" and "fascism as a regime". De Felice saw the fascism, especially in the "movement" stage as a revolutionary middle-class ideology that had deep roots in the Enlightenment. Moveover, De Felice insisted that fascism was not caused by fear on the part of the middle classes, but rather an assertive movement that sought to give the middle classes their proper power. Thus, De Felice felt that fascism should be seen as valid political ideology, not just something to be demonized and dismissed in what De Felice saw as being simplistic "Marxist" terms.
Furthermore, De Felice insisted that there was no connection or valid comparisons to be drawn between Italian Fascism and German National Socialism, which De Felice saw as being a completely different political ideology. De Felice was very controversial in both Italy and abroad for the sympathatic studies of Italian Fascism. Many such as Giuliano Procacci, Paolo Alatri and Nicola Tranfaglia accused De Felice of writing an apolgia for Fascism.
[edit] Work
- Storia degli ebrei italiani sotto il fascismo, 1961.
- Mussolini, 7 volumes, 1965-1992.
- Le interpretazioni del fascismo, 1969.
- Il fascismo: le interpretazioni dei contemporanei e degli storici, 1970.
- Intervista sul fascismo, edited by Michael Ledeen, 1975.
- Ebrei in un paese arabo: gli ebrei nella Libia contemporanea tra colonialismo, nazionalismo arabo e sionismo (1835-1970), 1978.
[edit] References
- Ledeen, Michael "Renzo De Felice and the Controversy over Italian Fascism" pages 269-283 from Journal of Contemporary History, Volume 11, 1976.
- Painter, Borden "Renzo De Felice and the Historiography of Italian Fascism" pages 391-405 from American Historical Review, Volume 95, 1990.
- Gentile, Emilio: "Renzo de Felice: A Tribute", in: Journal of Contemporary History 32,2 (1997), p. 139-151.
