In this forthright volume, written before the fall of Mussolini, two Italian-born, anti-Fascist professors of history at Harvard mince no words in diagnosing the ills of Italy and prescribing remedies. They remind the Western Powers of their long record of appeasing Fascism, and they are very critical of Vatican policy, which they assert is not motivated by sympathy for democratic principles. The book would have profited by adopting a more judicial tone.