M: The Ascent to Power

The second volume of Antonio Scurati's masterful trilogy, acclaimed as one of the great historical novels of the twenty-first century, and an international bestseller. M: The Ascent to Power takes the reader through the 1930s as Benito Mussolini transcends his youth as a small-time newspaperman, agitator, and socialist to become the terrifyingly charismatic Il Duce, with the drums of the Second World War beginning to rumble across Europe.

Firebrand Benito Mussolini’s speeches and promises have won him the devotion of Italy's poor and marginalized suffering from the ravages and economic deprivations of the First World War. With his political rise and taste for violence, Mussolini bends all of Italy to his will, molding the nation into a fearsome police state and establishing a nefarious new system of government known as fascism.

M: The Ascent to Power follows Mussolini to the precipice of World War II. Il Duce's arrogant, aggressive, and charismatic personality and will to power combined with his shrewd use of propaganda, violence, and extensive network of torture and repression propel Italy's National Fascist Party forward. While his Blackshirts march on Rome, he declares the Slavic people barbarians, nationalizes Italian business, and eventually makes the choice to join forces with Nazi Germany’s Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler.

Antonio Scurati’s M series imaginatively tells the story of fascism from inside the mind of its founder. Steeped in history and atmosphere and filled with details drawn from period documents and sources, this masterful saga explores the seductive power of nationalism and idolatry, revealing how authoritarianism took hold and a nation succumbed to one ruthless strongman. Provocative and resonant, this literary masterpiece is a chilling reminder that the past is never gone, and that it holds urgent lessons for today.