Victoria de Grazia, a Columbia historian, examines Italian fascism through the life of Attilio Teruzzi, a military hero who became one of Mussolini's most prominent generals. Teruzzi embodied the fascist ideal of masculine vigor, his chest covered with medals from wars in Libya and World War I. His marriage to Lilliana Weinman, an American opera singer of Jewish ancestry, seemed to confirm his status until fascist Italy introduced racial laws in 1938. Rather than protect his wife, Teruzzi sought an annulment, claiming the marriage had never been consummated and Lilliana was a racially inferior Jewish seductress. De Grazia uses the couple's story to explore how fascism constructed its vision of proper manhood and how individual Italians navigated the regime's demands. The book draws on court records, letters, and official documents to reconstruct both the marriage and its dissolution, showing how personal betrayal intersected with political ideology. De Grazia examines fascism's obsession with virility, its conflicted relationship with women, and its ultimate dependence on alliance with Nazi Germany that brought racial persecution to Italy. Readers will find here both an intimate family tragedy and an illuminating study of how authoritarian ideology shapes individual choices and relationships.