This exploration of the economic and political consequences of World War I traces the origins of fascism in Brescia, one of Italy's key manufacturing centers. Brescia offers a dramatic example of the commercial and social diversity which slowed the establishment of dictatorship in the country as a whole. Here, Kelikian shows how Mussolini's movements pitted town against country in the seizure of power by exploiting parliamentary frailty in the capital and civic fragmentation in the provinces.