Donald SassoonBesprekingen

Críticas
La historia de la obra de arte más enigmática de todos los tiempos, contada a través de imágenes.

Fascinating insight into probably the most famous painting in the world, and how different ages have interpreted the sitter and given the portrait particular significance. Especially interesting are photographs of Mona Lisa cartoons and ephemera, which enable you to realise exactly how overexposed this image is. This doesn't really focus overmuch on the different theories about the creation of the painting - there are ample other places to look for those. It's about how the painting has been displayed, criticised, reacted to, stolen and turned into a global icon. A biography of a work of art whose history - dare I say it - is far more intriguing than the painting itself. The mystery is not the smile, but why it has affected generations of people so powerfully. This book won't do anything to reduce the Mona Lisa hype, but it does at least allow us to put in context.½

El autor nos narra cómo llegó a ser este cuadro de Leonardo, la más famosa de las pinturas de todos los tiempos. En la época en que se pintó sólo era reconocida como un buen retrato, sólo con el paso de los siglos pasó de ser un icono de la alta pintura en circulos intelectuales y artísticos, a pasar a ser una figura reconocible entre las masas.
El autor nos va mostrando desde las dudas acerca de la identidad de la mujer retratada, a como en el siglo XIX los poetas la convirtiesen en una mujer misteriosa, o en el eterno femenino idealizado.
Una buena historia cultural.½

Site do Livro: http://www.mussolinieofascismo.com.br

“Na manhã de 30 de outubro de 1922, Benito Mussolini chegou a Roma, não a cavalo, como pode ter fantasiado inicialmente, mas no vagão-leito noturno de Milão, consciente de que o rei Vítor Emanuel III o designaria primeiro-ministro, confiando-lhe a formação de um governo de coalizão.” Quem eram os fascistas, como chegaram ao poder, quais suas motivações e valores? Em Mussolini e a ascensão do fascismo, o historiador Donald Sassoon percorre as crises e os eventos históricos que determinaram as condições e a conjuntura em que o fascismo surgiu na Itália, chegou ao poder e lá se manteve durante 20 anos, com Mussolini. Para o autor, a questão fundamental não é como Mussolini conseguiu transformar um governo constitucional em uma ditadura fascista, tampouco como se deu a consolidação desse regime totalitário. O ponto-chave, diz ele, “consiste em saber por que Mussolini chegou ao poder”. É preciso saber, antes de mais nada, e considerando as circunstâncias que são relatadas, o que leva “o líder de um partido eleitoralmente impopular, sem apoio nacional nem controle dos militares, a ser nomeado primeiro-ministro”. Carismático, Mussolini parecia um novo líder para um novo tempo. Sassoon se debruça sobre esse período histórico e fornece uma análise objetiva do contexto que logo precipitaria toda a Europa no mais violento conflito do século XX.

Donald Sassoon has truly created a major work of research with the book "One Hundred Years of Socialism". Despite the general title, in reality the book deals in-depth (and then I mean REALLY in-depth) with the socialist political parties of all sorts in Western Europe throughout the last century, their various interpretations of socialism, and their electoral successes and losses. Sassoon clearly emphasizes the UK and Italy, but pays attention to all major nations of Western Europe and quite some smaller ones too, like the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, etc. Not only this, but he also gives full attention to the social-democrats as well as the communists, various independent socialists, and their internal as well as external conflict.

The book is very well supported by copious amounts of statistics, tables, overviews etc. containing anything from election results to relative productivity increases. Each party's attitudes towards domestic issues, foreign policy, economic policy, as well as to the Wars and the Cold War is meticulously registered, and every change of leadership or strategy explained in-depth. A complaint could be that, despite promises of the entire 20th century, by far the greater part of the book is about post-war Europe (in fact only the first four chapters address the period 1900-1945). But when Sassoon engages something, he does it above all thoroughly, and so there is nothing anyone could possibly want to know about postwar socialism that is not in this book.

The writing is very dry and factual, at times encyclopedic in style. Sassoon himself takes care not to take sides in any internal disputes between various socialist views (communist vs reformist etc.), but clearly does have a general sympathy for socialism. When he assesses policy, he generally does so in a balanced and judicious manner. At most one could argue that he is probably a bit too critical of the SFIO as well as the 'unreformed' communists, who are never portrayed in a positive light, but that is a minor issue. Finally, the epilogue is a competent if somewhat vague assessment of the results of socialists in the 20th century, and a critical view towards the future.

A good indication of the encyclopedic and thorough nature of the work is that the notes, bibliography and index together already form 187 pages: truly a mastodontic work of history. If Sassoon can spend the time to make another such work about, say, socialism outside Europe, or socialism in Eastern Europe, he could be the greatest 'outsider' chronicler of socialist strategy since H.P.G. Quack.½