Italian writer, professor, and columnist Antonio Scurati captivated Europe with the publication of the M: Son of a Century, the first of four planned books telling the story of fascism through the mind of its founder, Benito Mussolini.

He returns with the third volume in the series, M: The Last Days of Europe, which picks up the story in 1938, with Adolf Hitler received by Mussolini in Italy. A few weeks earlier, Hitler had declared the annexation of Austria and Mussolini was preparing for the promulgation of unprecedented racial legislation. Yet many in Italy hoped that the lust for power of the two heads of government would come to an end.

In M: The Last Days of Europe, Scurati recreates the frightening delirium of Mussolini, describing the last days of a Europe that proved unable to escape the evils of totalitarianism in a powerful novel full of warnings about our future.

Naples-born Scurati is the Professor of Comparative Literature and Creative Writing at the IULM University in Milan and a columnist for Corriere della Sera.