Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber’s Notes

Misspelled words have been corrected. These are identified by
♦♠♥♣ symbols in the text and are shown immediately below the
paragraph or section in which they appear.

Details and other notes may be found at the end of this eBook.

MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY

_From a photograph by A. Badodi, Milan._

MUSSOLINI.

In his office at the Palazzo Chigi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
When listening intently this is his attitude and expression.
]

My Autobiography

By

Benito Mussolini

With a Foreword by
Richard Washburn Child

Former Ambassador to Italy

_Illustrated_

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1928

COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
Copyright, 1928, by Curtis Publishing Co.
Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

PAGE
Foreword by Richard Washburn Child ♦ix
CHAPTER
I. A Sulphurous Land 1
II. My Father 9
III. The Book of Life 20
IV. War and Its Effect Upon a Man 28
V. Ashes and Embers 59
VI. The Death Struggle of a Worn-Out Democracy 88
VII. The Garden of Fascism 121
VIII. Toward Conquest of Power 147
IX. Thus We Took Rome 173
X. Five Years of Government 200
XI. New Paths 242
XII. The Fascist State and the Future 273
XIII. En Route 308
Index 313

♦ “v” replaced with “ix”

ILLUSTRATIONS

Mussolini in his office at the Palazzo Chigi _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

The house at Varano di Costa, in Predappio, where
Mussolini was born 2

Mussolini’s mother and father, Rosa and Alessandro
Mussolini 10

The first offices, in Milan, of the _Popolo d’Italia_,
Mussolini’s paper 40

A snapshot of Mussolini and his captain on the
Carso, 1916 48

Commander Gabriele d’Annunzio 80

King Victor Emmanuel III and Mussolini 188

Mussolini walking along the seashore, May 1, 1928 204