Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a professor of history and Italian studies at New York University, specializing in authoritarian leaders, fascism, and propaganda, and she is an advisor to Protect Democracy. A regular contributor to CNN Opinion, she has also written for The New Yorker, The Guardian, and Foreign Affairs, among others. Her books include Fascist Modernities: Italy, 1922–1945 (2001, 2004), Italian Fascism’s Empire Cinema (2015), and the forthcoming Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. (August 2020)

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The Right’s War on Universities

Authoritarians from Mussolini onward have seen colleges as holdouts of liberal democracy—and attacked them relentlessly.

October 15, 2020

Co-opt & Corrupt

The Republican Party has become a “personalist” ruler’s dream. Politicians like Lindsey Graham need only contemplate the fate of their former peer, Jeff Sessions, to know what happens if they break ranks.

August 12, 2020

Silone’s Mystery

October 10, 2002 issue

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