Ciano's Diary 1939-1943 (1948) By Malcolm Muggeridge
 
From the Introduction: "I first knew of the existence of this Diary, now for the first time published in full, from Count Ciano himself. He showed it to me and read me excerpts from it in my first conversation with him. There is no question of its authenticity, nor have I any reason to believe that in the last tragic days before his execution as a “traitor”, at Mussolini’s order, he had the opportunity or the desire to make any changes in what he had previously written . . . I believe it to be one of the most valuable historical documents of our times. To some who have read mutilated passages previously syndicated through the press, the diary has proved a disappointment because of its lack of those sensational revelations which they had apparently anticipated. But those who will read the diary in its complete text will obtain an opportunity to gain a clearer insight into the manner of being of Hitler’s Germany and of Mussolini’s Italy, and a far more accurate understanding of the degradation of the peoples subjected to Hitlerism and Fascism during the years when almost the entire world trembled before the Axis partners . . . What is perhaps most valuable of all is the picture which the Diary presents of Italy under the climactic stage of Fascism. The partially unconscious analysis of Mussolini, undertaken by a man who was not only his son-in-law but who also obviously admired him, and who loyally served him until only a few months before his death, could hardly be more devastating . . . In his Diary, Count Ciano shows himself to be precisely what he was in life – the amoral product of a wholy decadent period in Italian, and, for that matter, in European, history. To him morality in international relations did not exist. He was wholly seized of the concept that only might makes right . . . Galeazzo Ciano was a creature of his times, and the times in which he had his being are the least admirable mankind has known for many centuries." --Sumner Welles
 
The book detail extracts from the diary of Galeazzo Ciano from 1939 to 1943, offering an interesting insight into Italy's involvement during the Second World War.
 
Ciano was an Italian diplomat and politician, who served as the Foreign Minister for his father-in-law Mussolini. Ciano was married to Edda Mussolini, the daughter of the dictator.
 
Illustrated with four pages of plates. Collated, complete. Edited with an introduction by Malcolm Muggeridge, foreword by Sumner Welles.
 
Hard Cover
575 pages
In Good condition