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Show nyJyd ig" g" 'grgr aiy-- 2 E Jfcr'i'Tjr-"fr"- " The Salt Lake Tribune, Sunday, June n 'g gi I 1 w-g 20. 1982 irg mg yryr M'i nrri"iijr $20 A country that tlirr.rtt n.s rf T T T rf V w T T V Profiles of Benito Mussolini, Italys 'Mussolini, a Biography," hy IVnis Mark adlenda. Smith, Alfred A Knopf, .120 pp The familiar posturing of Benito Mussolini as recorded hy a photographer in 1933. 1 T'ijTr' Mussolini," hy Anthony James Joes, add nda, $18 95 Franklin Watts, 378 pp How did it happen that Italy, center of one of the world's longest hud civiiiza'ions, permitted it elf to fall undi r the verbal spell and physical mis rul o of Benito Mussolini and his black shirted cohorts' By virtue ot one of those odd coincidences afflicting the publishing business, v e have at hand after at least a decade of no significant two exrellrnt works on the first fascist analyses of his life and times Since history has a way of repeating itself, and since Mussolinis history should prove instrue five, one would hope that either or both of these volumes gains a solid readership, although due to their dual appearance each will receive half the deserved readership Let me sav at the outset both are solid works Anthony James Joes writes m a simpler style, Denis Mack Srruh, an Oxford fellow, writes in rather denser fashion, giving the potential Mussolini .scholar footnotes enough for an academic lifetime of study Both agree, as will even the casual reader, that Mussolini was one of the great eon artists of his day, a violent man a liar, an opportunist, but an unusually complex leader whose aberrations may be linked to his ulcers, his unhappy childhood and to this lack of a really solid education Writer and F.ditor As a loumahst, this reviewer must say, in sorrow, that Mussolini learned his latter day trade, that of blustering dictator, as a writer, editor and publisher of Italian weeklies and dailies lie seems to have been a persuasive editorialist who took his own as did his readers, his frothmgs seriously countrys parliamentarians, his king, and even a Pope It must also he admitted that, with strikingly few exceptions, correspon dents representing our nations press (and that of England! were easily gulled hy Mussolini, at least during the early years of fisrnt rule The Heart newspapers were in tantly intrigued by a man who voiced an'i communist sentiments not unlike those of William Randolph Hears! but columnists for both the London Times and New York Tirrms at first ignored the fact that his bully boys smashed the presses of all opposition newspapers, poured castor oil down the throats of antifascist professois and politicians, and that Mussolini never satis factonly explained his role in the disappear ance of Socialist Deputy Giaroma Matteoti days after the Socialist leaders 1924 speech to the Chamber violently opposing Mussolini's grasp of power Whipped by Father F'i i things first Benito (named perhaps for Mexicos Benito Juarez) was bom in tne Romagna in 1883, shortly after the death of the hero of Italian unification, Giuseppe Garibaldi His mother was a bit of a saint, ruled his his father often drunk children with a whip, and was something of a self aught revolutionary socialist Benito Mussohru became, in turn, a self proclaimed anarchist, a socialist, a eljc Salt Calif eribunf , school teacher, an "authoritarian communist," and a prolific writer lbs chief themes were the fostering ' small-tow- n proletarian unrest, the fallacy of class an anti religious attitude, and an anti military stance Until World War I, which Italy resisted joining for many months, Mussolini openly encouraged soldiers and sadors to desert His about face on the latter matte was so violent that a few decades later he had anti war agitators shot Fut his turn about tactic should surprise no one, although the manner in which Italian readers and politicians swallowed his chameleon like changes will continue to perplex most Americans He could, and did, pour out is of An established journalist and novel ist, Mr Meyer has combined both disciplines in a successful analysis readable, informative, provocative turn and muscular The blend of object' i'y and interpretation strikes 1 effect e hal The ancc texts organization Mr Mcyci 's wriuuj is i ixpissive without being melodramatic v.vid and yet controlled An American who lived with his wife and three young children m Jerusalem "Israel Now'," Mr Mover graduated from the University of Michigan, Columbia University and toiled for the Washington Tost 1 years, covering United States politics, govern ment, the domestic economy and foreign affairs His purpose, he savs m to make sense the preface, was out (if what is happening in Israel Its a simple goal, but one which cant he reached without a scholars patience and insight Arguable Conclusions Mr Movers conclusions are argu able, simply because opinion about a subject as complex and debatable as Israel naturally promt ts differing viewpoints The countrys most st ad fast admirers w ill not agree with all the authors contentions Its harshest rri tics will probably challenge him, too, for those passages in which he justifies Israels presence and potential His most pronounced theme is that Israel, as "a troubled land," is in more peril than anyone, particulatly its own people, icahzes while researching FICTION This Last We Week wneks On List The Parsifal Mosaic I odium 2 The Man Irom St Peterv hurg Foilett 3 The Prod9a Daughter Archer 4 The One Tree Donaldson 5 North and South takes A un Eden Burning 7 Celebrity Thomason 8 Thy Brother's Wife Greeley Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Tyler For Specal Services, Gardner 14 NON FICTIAM Jane Fonda s Workout Book Fonda living loving & Learning Biisraai a Richard Simmons Never Say 2 Det Cookbook The Fate of the Earth Schell No Bad Dogs The WoodhouseWay Woodhouse A Light m the Attic Silverstem A Few Minutes with A ndv Rooney Rnonev When Bad Things Mapoen To Good People, K ishner America In Search for ItseH The Makm9 of the President Whitp Years of Upheaval Kissinger method for illustrating these findings ia to examine in deail and example such ingredients as the nation's economy, polite s, ethme groupings, security needs and religious influences In practically every m stance, Mr Meyer discovers abrasive upheaval and flux On the Israeli character, he con eludes "The whole setting and circum stance of Israel the denial of limitations, the cultivation of art and music in the nudst of constant readi ness for war. the determined effort to 'make the desert bloom, the massive contradictions one confronts every where are evidence of a land of Sisyphian struggle going on Constantly under siege and threatened with extinction, every day m the life of an Israeli is an act of affirmation, like Melv dies Quetqueg in Moby Dick, Holding up that imbt ede candle in the heart of that the sign and almighty forlomncss symbol of a man without faith, hopelessly holding up h'pe in the midst of dt pair " The F ow er Shift His summary of the popular ongoing discussion m Israel about the political power siuP from the essentially European immigrant Jews to the Oriental, or Middle Eastern, Jews during recent elections is faithful and thorough If the section on Israeli political hiotory is incomplete, never mind, a full treat ment of that would require a v olume all its own More than one, no doubt But in descnhmg the advent of Bust Sellers New York T o' Serviff The lutings he'ow are harJ on compct-rrocesv- d from NV bookstores sale I m every region of the Un ted States Book Re ieh trvfe Mu-soli- m Party Both his present biographers leave little doubt that this successful tactic was much admired by an even bloodier dictator, Adolf Hitler, who remained an admirer of Mussolini until the latter was strung up by his heels in the wake of the disasters of World Warll In fact. Mack Smith pretty much proves (at least to my satisfaction) that Hitler Hoodwinked Many It should be noted that Mussolini hood winked finer men than Hitler or Hearst Mahatma Ghandi saw him as the savior ot Italy " Poet Gabriele DAnnunzio and othei patriots believed Mussolini was one ot them until he outmaneuvered both his allies and his opposition And it should be made man on tragically clear that Italys horseback stands charged and convicted of hav ing wrecked the peace of other nations as well as his own Italian bombers along with those ordered in from Germany helped smash tl Spanish Republic m the days when it was one of the hopes of a free European society Mussolini sent his troops to bleed, die and partially subdue Aby ssima thereby helping wreck whatever hopes for peace were still tenuously held by supporters of the League of Nations Strutting and trumpeting vocally, he supported Hitler in the latters Putsch into Czechoslovakia and Austria His chief backers, both authors make were such Milanese clear, businessmenindustriahsts as Olivetti and military and police leaders who were able to shrug brutality aside in the name of law and order, profits, and making the trains run on time " By the tune the rest of the world finished dealing with him properly Italy had few railroads, few factories and an impoverished, despairing population A1 most 40 years after his death at the hands of Italian partisans, his nation has not fully recovered from its 20 disastrous years under Mussolinis rule Jack Goodman iw If 1 more opportune time could not occur for the appearance of this new dissection of Israel As an Israeli invasion force pounds away at Palesti man Liberation Organization gin rrtllas in shattered Lebanon and the question is hotly debated whether such a development bodes well or ill for the Jewish nations future, author Meyer's work contributes considerably to un derstanding the elements involved A Duce would not have gone to war when he did had he not believed Mussolinis own miscalculations of Italian naval and militar strength Unfortunately . for both dictators the Italian .Army proved unable to conquer Greece much less Africa and its navy proved totally unable (without German air supporti to sever Britain's lifeline in what " had proclaimed to be Mare Nostrum seemingly venomous hatred of the Catholic Church one week, and, as it were, fraternize with the Pope and the heirarchy a day or two later One day, m pnnt or in person, he would blame his nation's poverty on the fact that millions of lira were spent for warslups, rather than on farm machinery or schools Proletarians, he held, should refuse to fight for Trieste and the Trentmo, while "the national flag is for us a rag to plant on a dunghill Days later, when war came, he reversed the field in nay, led the field proclaiming the national need to defeat the Austrians Seized Power Perhaps most important to his nations history, he editorially bewailed the fact that many members of the Italian Parliament gained office by employing armed bands of thugs But by 1924, less than 10 years later, he copied precisely that tactic to gain power and hold it He formed bands of hooligans, many of them war veterans, who terrorized mayors and town councils, then marched on Rome, where the Blackshirts confronted deputies and bureaucrats, seizing power for Mussolinis numerically small Fascist Timely analysis of Israel, a troubled land "Israel Now Portrait of a Troubled Land," hy Lawrcni e Meyer, Delacorte Press, 104 pp $16 4H 3 4 5 Menarhem Begins political success, supplanting the predecessor Labor Alignment, Mr Meyer introduces the philosophy which would result in the lightning assault made into Lebanon His disclosures concerning the heavy 7 A responsibility loaded on Israel's de fense forces and the close look at deep differences between Jews and Arabs within Israel, helps tell why the furious grab for FLO weapons and gunmen in Lebanon would have seemed justifiable to the present Israeli government But Mr Meyers interest transcends that In making sense of what he found the author decided Biblical History "To read the Bible is to read how human weakness and folly tune and again brought the Jewish people to tragedy and ruin In biblical times, the prophets warned the people against their excesses Today in Israel, as in those times, secular prophets have raised their voices m warning And The essence of Israeli existence is a dynamic tension between two diametrically opposite poles Moving too close to either invites destruction The middle course, the way of restraint and self denial that Israelis knew and practiced so well in the early years of the state, now seems excessively timid to the new Israeli leadership and to the younger generation, which has grown up in a country no longer the underdog hut the dominant power in the region Danger from Within How ever an Israel true to her moral and spiritual heritage is more than capable of surviving and prospering m a dangerous world It is when Israel wanders from the path of her own principles that she runs the greatest risks In the final analy sis, the greatest danger to Israel lies not outside her borders, but m her own soul and spirit " Harry E. Fuller Jr. June Allyson tells her story June Allyson, hy June Allyson with Frances Spatz Leighton, G P. Putnam's Sons, 262 pp , $14 95. I felt incredibly lucky, m my first movie role, to be singing a song to Mickey Rooney He was surprisingly sensitive to my needs and helped me day I was through a nerve-rackin- g terrified by the complexity of movie acting trying to remember all the simultanethings you have to do flirt with ously or in sequence Mickey, sing, hold the note, move to that mark, smile, look there, hold that note I had a sexy song and I was supposed to shove Mickey around a lot during the number I could not beheve they were satisfied with the first take, but they were, and it was a good thing they were I just made it to the rest room before I tossed my cookies In 1942, a kooky little chorus girl turned up m Hollywood to take part m Best Foot Forward, a musical to be made by frog-voice- d She er arnved everything she owned, all stuffed into a scuffy little borrowed suitcase and a makeup case There was something special about this arrival, she was still wearing her "fuzzy-wuizzy- " bedroom slippers her best and only good shoes had been left m New York, sitting beside her bed, ready to be put on She certainly hadn't counted on buying a pair of shoes before she received her tirst Hollywood paycheck as she had only $21 in her purse, her total wealth June Allyson, bom Eleanor Geis-mawas a spunky, bubbly optimist until life played some dirty tricks on her with Here, in one of the most poignant and powerful star autobiographies reever written, June candidl counts The bittei sweet love story of her 17 year-ol- d marriage to a man twice her age, Dick Powell, who called her his child bride and introduced her into a dazzling world of talent and power that included tlm Ronald Reagans, Howard Hughes, Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst, Jimmy Stewart and Bogart and Bacall, Her relationship with early dates Van Johnson, Peter Lawford, and JFK , her mentor Claudette Colbert . her perennial screen husband Jimmy Stewart, her boss Louis B the Mayer, her favorite doomed Robert Walker, her close friend Judy Garland, from the days of blazing stardom at MGM through the catastrophic experiences that propelled both Judy and June through a dark tunnel of loyal and loving family and. above all, the present husband Dr David Ashrow, who helped June get her life back together again. The shocking ordeal of The the Howard Hughes Conqueror, super spectacle that led to disaster for Dick Powell, John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendariz, and Agnes Moorehead As rich in joy and drenched in heartbreak as life itself, full of fights, lovemaking parties and deaths, June AL sons story will head the reader alternately into laughter a book as heart and sadness Tania warming as the lady itself Karol co-sta-r, 100 Help Wanted r A I i t |