Book 6. The Pope and Mussolini

The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe

David Kertzer (the author) is a professor of anthropology and religious history at Brown University. This book won him the Pulitzer Prize for biographies in 2015, and it is obvious why. Kertzer spent seven years combing through the Vatican and Fascist historical archives, reading memos, letters, diaries, and documents. In all, he digitized and studied tens of thousands of communications. As a result, this book is nothing less than a brilliantly revealing biography of two of the 20th century's most powerful men. Moreover, it shows how easily democracy can devolve into a fascist state; And how cults of personality are, at their core, still cults.