Emilio Gentile is professor of contemporary history at the University of Rome La Sapienza. He is a distinguished historian of Fascism and totalitarianism, best known for his interpretation of politics as religion. He is the author of several books, including The Sacralization of Politics in Fascist Italy; The Struggle for Modernity: Nationalism, Futurism, and Fascism; The Origins of Fascist Ideology, 1918-1925; and Politics as Religion. Suzanne Dingee and Jennifer Pudney are freelance translators based in Rome, Italy. They have taught English translation at Rome's Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators for more than twenty years and have recently completed translating another work by Emilio Gentile, God's Democracy.