The Explorer of the Duce: The Adventures of Giuseppe Tucci and Italian Foreign Policy in the Orient from Mussolini to Andreotti: With the Correspondence of Giulio Andreotti, by Enrica Garzilli
In the box on your right you can see the cover of a new book on Asia:
The Explorer of the Duce: The Adventures of Giuseppe Tucci and Italian Foreign Policy in the Orient from Mussolini to Andreotti: With the Correspondence of Giulio Andreotti, by Enrica Garzilli, 2 vols., Rome-Milan: Memori editrice and Asiatica Association, Sept. 2012. Vol. 1, pp. LII + 685; Vol. 2, pp. XIV + 726.
It is a biography of the great scholar and explorer of Tibet, Nepal and Ladakh Giuseppe Tucci (1894-1984), and a history book on Foreign Policy in Asia. It is based on original and often unedited documents (archives and fonts), original and often unedited correspondence (Sanskrit, Nepali, English, Romanian, Hindi and Italian letters), original films, original and unedited photos, 9 original maps, and interviews.
It offers 4 unedited Sanskrit letters by Giuseppe Tucci to the Royal Preceptor of Nepal Hem Raj Sharma, 1 unedited English letter to Dr. Dilli R. Regmi, 1 unedited Sanskrit letter by Carlo Formichi (his teacher, and Visiting Professor at Vishvabharati, the university of Tagore, in 1925-26) to Hem Raj, 1 unedited Nepali letter by Kesar Bahadur K. C. to Hem Raj, 1 unedited English letter by the then Prime Minister of Nepal Mohan Shamsher Rana to Tucci, big part of the correspondence between Tucci and the philospher Giovanni Gentile, and the whole unedited correspondence between Tucci and Giulio Andreotti.
Among the others, it includes interviews to Giulio Andreotti, Filippani-Ronconi, Fosco Maraini, Dilli R. Regmi, Rishikesh Shaha, Mahes Pant, Dinesh Pant and other scholars.
Through Tucci's life, I reconstructed the Italian politics in part of Asia (India, Tibet and Nepal, but also partly Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where Tucci opened the 1st Italian archaeological missions), and the cultural history of Italy in Asia. The book includes documents proving Benito Mussolini's idea of making India a "future dominion" of the Italian Empire. Mussolini wanted to "take possession" of India! He wanted to replace the British Raj. In fact he strongly supported India independence and, as everybody knows, hosted and met several times with Subhas Chandra Bose. The history of Fascism in Asia was stuck at the excellent (but outdated) work of Renzo De Felice.