In the summer of 1938 Mussolini's former adviser and lover, Margherita Sarfatti, first spoke of writing a highly revealing biography of the dictator. The Fascist regime had begun trumpeting vicious anti-Semitic propaganda and Sarfatti, herself of Jewish ethnicity, was issuing an implicit warning-if Mussolini allied with Hitler and adopted Nazi-like ideology, she would reveal the Duce's decades-long intimate partnership with a Jew. That November, just before Mussolini imposed harsh restrictions on Italy's Jews, Sarfatti escaped into Switzerland. She would spend the next nine years in exile where she would write her personal memoir of Mussolini. 'My Fault' reveals Mussolini as anxiety-ridden, often fearful, yet possessing political genius and hungering for power and fame. He skilfully manoeuvred his way to the head of the Italian government, then imposed a new form of tyranny that Margherita Sarfatti and he had conceived: Fascism. This edition, compiled from several English-language manuscripts and a Spanish serialisation published in an obscure Argentine newspaper, presents the man hidden behind the facade erected by Fascist propaganda. 'My Fault' shows Mussolini as riddled with disease; sexually manic; boastful; vindictive; and cunning yet deeply insecure. No one but Sarfatti could present such candid first-hand observations of the dictator and his associates. b/w illustrations
