Jefferson and/or Mussolini
Jefferson and/or Mussolini: L'Idea Statale Fascism as I Have Seen It is a book by the American Ezra Pound. It was first published in 1935 by Stanley Nott Ltd in London.
The book compares Benito Mussolini, then Prime Minister of Italy and leader of the National Fascist Party, to Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States. Pound, who lived from 1924 in Rapallo, Italy, wrote the book shortly after meeting Mussolini on 30 January 1933. His agent had the manuscript by the end of February.
Pound argues that "he fundamental likenesses between these two men are probably greater than their difference." Pound had trouble finding a publisher. In the book's foreword he writes:
Works cited
- Moody, A. David. Ezra Pound: Poet. A Portrait of the Man and His Work. II: The Epic Years 1921–1939. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Pound, Ezra . . New York: Liverright.
- Redman, Tim. Ezra Pound and Italian Fascism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.