Marconi
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: March 14, 2017 1:10 PM | Last Updated: July 10, 2017
Marc Raboy
Behind so much of what we take for granted in the world of instantaneous communication is Guglielmo Marconi. Thanks to his wireless system, which came into full use about a century ago, the cables that once constrained communication, slowing the exchange of news and information, disappeared.
Based on original research and unpublished archival materials in four countries, Raboy's biography offers the entirety of Marconi's story, from his early days in Italy, to his groundbreaking experiments in transatlantic communication, to his role as a diplomatic go-between. Raboy also explores Marconi's relationships with his wives, lovers, mistresses and children, and examines in detail the last ten years of the inventor's life, when he returned to Italy and became a leading pillar of Benito Mussolini's fascist regime. Comprehensive, authoritative and compelling, Marconi reveals the origins of our networked world and the man who first realized it. (From Oxford University Press)
From the book
The most controversial aspect of Marconi's life — and the reason why there has been no satisfying biography of Marconi until now — was his uncritical embrace of Benito Mussolini. Marconi was one of the earliest card-carrying members of Mussolini's Fascist Party, which he saw as a vehicle for establishing an equal place for Italy among the victorious colonial powers after World War One. At first this was not problematic for him. But as the regressive nature of Mussolini's regime became clear, and as Italy moved closer to Nazi Germany in the mid-'30s, he began to suffer a crisis of conscience, even wondering publicly at one point whether his work had really improved the world or made it a more dangerous place. However, after a lifetime of moving within the circles of power, he was unable to break with authority, and served Mussolini faithfully (as president of Italy's national research council and royal academy, as well as a member of the Fascist Grand Council) until the day he died — conveniently — in 1937, shortly before he would have had to take a stand in the conflict that engulfed a world that he had, in part, created.
From Marconi by Marc Raboy ©2016. Published by Oxford University Press.