Not sure if it's because Edda Ciano (née Mussolini) didn't diarise much, or maybe because she didn't have much to say until she really came into her own in her early thirties, but the first two-thirds of this book is more about her father, Mussolini, or her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, and the rise of Fascism in Italy following the end of the First World War. As such, it makes for a handy guide to interwar Italian history and the psychology and personality of Mussolini. Based on the book, it seems incredible that Italy was dominated by such a collection of mediocre (and murderous) buffoons. But, then again, a number of forces conspired to catapult Mussolini and his entourage to power, and as long and the money and the graft were flowing, all the better for them. One clear insight from this book was the rather neglected and powerless status of women in Italian (and German) society in the lead-up to and during the war. The subtitle is "the most dangerous woman in Europe", but it seems pretty clear that while Edda Mussolini wielded considerable moral authority over her father -- urging him to ally with Nazi Germany -- she was excluded from the actual decision process. Still, while she doesn't exactly live happily ever after, soon after the war Edda Mussolini had regained her villa on Capri and was able to live comfortably on both the proceeds of her husband's memoirs, as well as a book written by her father shortly before he was justifiably executed by partisans. She came away from the war with no real insights, and experienced no real justice.