Mussolini's Roman Empire

The question of whether or not Mussolini sought to rebuild the Roman Empire during his reign has never been truly answered and this book does not seek to do so. While mistitled the book does offer a very good account and narrative of Mussolini's tenure in office. It is a basic overview of foreign policy and how the world viewed Italy during his reign.
Dennis Mack Smith is an excellent historian and his biography of Mussolini is among the best that can be found although it is written more than a decade after this book. This is a great start to understanding what occurred via Italy during the World War II era. The book goes beyond a simple biography of Mussolini and does try to take in a snapshot of Italy as a whole. It is a decent place to start for a narrative but this should not be taken as the complete picture.
R J. Bosworth's newest book Mussolini's Italy is a great source for what occurred in Italy both domestically and from a foreign policy perspective. While this book was great at the time it was published one can probably find more complete references elsewhere. The information here is still mostly good and has been challenged in some ways but it can be an excellent start to understanding Italy in World War II.