The First Fascist

History Seminar & The Center for Jewish Studies

Speaker

Sergio Luzzatto
Emiliana Pasca Noether Chair in Modern Italian History, University of Connecticut

Discussant

Jessica Marglin
Jacob E. Safra Professor of Jewish History and Sephardic Civilization Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, Harvard University

Discussant

Susan Rubin Suleiman
C. Douglas Dillon Research Professor of the Civilization of France, Emerita, and Research Professor of Comparative Literature, Emerita, Harvard University; Faculty Associate, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Chairs

Mary D. Lewis
Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Harvard History Department, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Nathan Perl-Rosenthal
Senior Research Fellow, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Research Professor, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS); Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

In his recent biography The First Fascist: The Sensational Life and Dark Legacy of the Marquis de Morès (Harvard University Press, 2026), Sergio Luzzatto draws a vivid portrait of the 19th-century French-Italian aristocrat. Morès was the first populist, white supremacist, and openly antisemitic leader in the West. Decades later, Morès's mastery of blending racialized hatred, cross-class solidarity, and paramilitary violence would inspire Benito Mussolini to call it “fascism."

Sponsors

History Seminar
Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University

Directions

This event is being hosted elsewhere on campus, and not by the History Department. To learn more, please see the original event posting.