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An inspiring true story of resistance to the rising tide of populism and xenophobia in Mussolini's Italy.
About the author
Taras Grescoe is the author of seven non-fiction books, including
Sacré Blues,
The End of Elsewhere,
The Devil's Picnic,
Bottomfeeder,
Straphanger, and
Shanghai Grand.
Bottomfeeder won the Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction, the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction, and was a finalist for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. He has contributed to the
New York Times,
The Guardian,
The New Yorker,
Gourmet, and
The Wall Street Journal. His books have been translated into half a dozen languages. He lives in Montreal.
Summary
An inspiring true story of resistance to the rising tide of populism and xenophobia in Mussolini’s Italy.
Additional text
Praise for Possess the Air
“In the age of Trump, Mussolini—half-clown, half-tyrant—returns to our minds more readily that does that fanatic of fanatics, Adolf Hitler. Readers of Taras Grescoe's racy study will learn much about what happened to those, both foreign and Italian, who rejected the Duce's fake truths even at the sacrifice of their own lives. Their story can help us today resist the populist nationalists who crowd our screens with their lies and superificialities.” —R.J. Bosworth, author of Mussolini and The Oxford Handbook of Fascism
“Wow! This book is an absolute tour de force—a fact-driven work of historical imagination at once fresh, relevant, and irresistible. While tracking the rise of Italian fascism through the 1920s and ’30s, Taras Grescoe conducts a master class in applying novelistic techniques to a research-based narrative. By telling this story through individuals who lived it, Grescoe has created a literary experience that revives the idea of the nonfiction novel.” —Ken McGoogan, author of Flight of the Highlanders: The Making of Canada
"In Possess the Air, Grescoe merges impressive scholarship with deft storytelling to bring readers to a Rome we've never known—even though Mussolini's Make-Italy-Great-Again bombast will feel uncomfortably familiar. As much a biography of a city as the characters who dwell there, Grescoe's book hums and shines."—Marcello Di Cintio, author of Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense
Praise for Taras Grescoe
“Taras Grescoe has fallen hard for the 'the wicked old Paris of the Orient,' its barrooms thick with gangsters and newsmen, its alleys 'scented with sweet almond broth, opium smoke and the chemical bite of Flit insecticide' . . . Shanghai Grand is a headlong swoon for old Shanghai. The feeling is easy to catch.” —New York Times Book Review
"Filled with excellent short character sketches and keeps the reader turning the pages to find out what will happen next . . . Brings to life a special time and a special place." —Wall Street Journal
“A keenly observant, sometimes soulful portrait . . . of China’s political and social realities during that tumultuous period in its history. . . . A wonderful book.” —Publishers Weekly
“Grescoe exuberantly captures the glamour and intrigue of a lost world." —Kirkus Reviews
