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A harrowing account of life in Italy in the year leading up to World War II, available in the US for the first time.

In 1939 it was not a foregone conclusion that Mussolini would enter World War II on the side of Hitler. In this  previously unpublished and only recently discovered diary, Iris Origo, author of the classic War in Val d’Orcia, provides a vivid account of how Mussolini decided on a course of action that would devastate his country and ultimately destroy his regime.

Though the British-born Origo lived with her Italian husband on an estate in a remote part of Tuscany, she was supremely well-connected and regularly in touch with intellectual and diplomatic circles in Rome, where her godfather, William Phillips, was the American ambassador. Her diary describes the Fascist government’s growing infatuation with Nazi Germany as Hitler’s armies marched triumphantly across Europe and the campaign of propaganda and intimidation that was mounted in support of its new aims. The book ends with the birth of Origo’s daughter and Origo’s decision to go to Rome to work with prisoners of war at the Italian Red Cross. 

Together with War in Val d’Orcia, A Chill in the Air offers an indispensable record of Italy at war as well as a thrilling story of a formidable woman’s transformation from observer to actor at a great historical turning point.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ NYRB Classics (August 7, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1681372649
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1681372648
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.98 x 0.47 x 7.97 inches
Reviewer: J.mezz
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: War comes to Italy
Review: I have long been a history buff, interested in WWII, however Iris Origo's writing gives me a new picture of what life was like in Italy during that period.

Reviewer: carpartsguy34
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: If you want to see what fascism looks like from the ground level
Review: Fascinating book about a British expatriate in Mussolini's Italy as she watches bit by bit the fascists start to take over. It is not so much the national news that she focuses on as it is the local town -- the emergence of black shirts in the local government, the sinking feeling as Italy starts lurching towards war -- a war that no one in the town seems to want, yet it comes to pass. The newspapers are a joke -- no one believes them, but it is the only news you can get. The young men in the town slinking off to war -- few of them actually want to go, they are rallied by the local black shirts extolling them to do their patriotic duty, but most of the townspeople despise the Germans, and sympathize with the French, against whom they are no supposed to fight. But they have no voice, and the young recruits have few options except to march off to wherever they are supposed to march off to. Democracy has been pushed aside for the greater glory of Italy, Mussolini, and the brave front and certainties that authoritarian rule provide. The book ends abruptly, and we are left with the dangling uncertainty that the author must have also felt. (hint: Italy & Germany lose).

Reviewer: S. Michaud
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A view into history with inspiration for our own
Review: I’d barely heard of Iris Origo when on a whim I visited her La Foce estate in Tuscany, and the vista onto the Val D’Orcia struck me to the heart. At the book store, I bought her War in Val D’Orcia and fell in love with her point of view. We each stand at the center of our own history of course, but Iris Origo’s way of translating history to the page - the broader history that swirled around her - continues to enrich and inspire me through her works. This latest read, A Chill in the Air, made me wish she could remark about what’s happening in our contemporary history-in-the-making. From someone so involved in the issues of her day, we could take cue to respond with such practicality, equanimity and good will. Recommended read.

Reviewer: Richard W. May
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Iris Origo Brilliantly Captures the "Fog of War"
Review: "A Chill in the Air," describes the "fog of war" in Italy that preceded Mussolini's ill-fated alliance with Hitler. Iris was a member of the privileged class and very well connected, but she too was clearly deceived by the truths and half-truths that prompted Italy to become a member of the Axis.Thoughtful and provoking. Her "diary" is quite short, but it is clear that wishful thinking and common sense are often trumped by those in power who make the decisions. Most sad.Personally, I feel that Origo's "War in Val d'Orcia" is a masterpiece. In that diary, she describes the courage and chaos that followed the German occupation of Tuscany following the departure of Mussolini.

Reviewer: Fiona Thompson
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A wonderful diary of a woman in Italy that experience the events leading up to WWII .
Review: There was NOTHING to dislike about this book...except it gave me a chill for sure when I realized that what this woman wrote about day to day in 1939 sounded just like what is happening in the US now.....leading us to a fascist regime!! Very scary!!

Reviewer: Nelson Byrne
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Italian life before WWII.
Review: Can’t put it down. Must read with its sequel, “War In Val d’Orcia”.She mixed with the rich, the aristocracy, the common folk, the peasants.

Reviewer: Joseph R.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An intimate insight
Review: A fascinating first hand account of the lead up to hostilities in WW II Italy.

Reviewer: andy c
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Fascinating diary of a person who lived at a critical time
Review: Provides ba remarkable insight into the dilemma posed by Italy’s entry into World War II. She is a remarkable person.

Reviewer: Francois Larose
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Méconnue dans l'univers francophone, l'auteure est pourtant l'une des plus intéressante de son époque, fort connue au demeurant et considérée une "classique" du style "chronique sociale" chez nos voisins du sud. Incontournable en ces temps troubles.

Reviewer: un lettore del 1947
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A chill in the air offers a picture of the months leading to the beginning of World War II for Italy. As in her previously published parts of Iris Origo's diary, we can appreciate her keen observations on the period.

Reviewer: languerousse
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: C'est une première partie à laquelle l'excellent Guerre dans le Val d'Orcia, qui couvrent les années 1943-44 lors de la chute de Mussolini alors que l'Italie sombre dans le chaos. Iris Origo arrive à magnifiquement croiser la grande histoire - sur laquelle elle a un éclairage particulier grâce à certaines de ses relations - avec le simple vécu parfois prosaïque du quotidien. L'auteur ne juge pas et pose sans cess un regard d'une humanité exemplaire.