The Poet and the Dictator

This vivid biography is a study of the life and times of the Italian poet-activist Lauro de Bosis. Remarkably productive as a poet cultural diplomat and political subversive de Bosis founded and lead an underground resistance group the National Alliance for Liberty. His actions culminated in a dramatic solo flight over Rome in October 1931 showering the city with protest leaflets against the Fascist dictatorship before plunging to his death. This feat brought world attention to the existence of anti-Fascism much to Mussolini''s chagrin and rage.De Bosis''s story told against the backdrop of Rome''s politics in the 1920s is at once personal national and international. World figures - from Mussolini Croce Ezra Pound to Walter Lippmann Thornton Wilder and his lover the actress Ruth Draper - were all within de Bosis''s compass. Gifted quirky original and impulsive but principled to the point of giving up both personal love and family for his cause his life shows how Mussolini''s regime systematically cleared out the cream of Italy''s young liberal intellectuals. Based on previously untapped archival resources this is the first biography of a young gifted Italian poet who dared to challenge the power of a totalitarian state with his practical idealism and fierce determination to protect Italy''s fragile democracy from il Duce.