I wrote this book to try to explain to myself what actually happened. When I had finished, I realized that I had quite unintentionally produced a work with something in it likely to annoy most people connected with Italian history. In mitigation, I can only plead that I have attempted to fulfill the historian's duty to call things by their right names. As an outsider born in 1945 (who has nevertheless lived in Italy for a number of years and speaks the language) and as a historian with training and experience in a variety of fields, I think I can claim some degree of detachment from my subject. That does not mean I believe “historical objectivity” demands abstention from judgment. I hope those who read this book will take it as I intended it, as a small contribution to the far from complete task of understanding the Fascist past.

One pleasant side of finishing a project is that it brings the opportunity to acknowledge one's debts. I could not have done research in Europe without grants both from Yale University's Concilium on International and Area Studies and from the American Council of Learned Societies. A Yale University Whiting Fellowship in the Humanities supported me while I wrote much of the text. I owe a great deal to Mrs. Marian Johnson, who shared with me her profound knowledge of Italy, and opened a number of important doors for me during my stay in Rome in 1973–4. Colonel and Mrs. John Weaver of Chelsea welcomed me warmly, and generously put me up during my work at the Public Record Office in London.