The pike : Gabriele d'Annunzio, poet, seducer and preacher of war

WINNER OF THE 2013 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION The story of Gabriele D'Annunzio, poet, daredevil - and Fascist.

In September 1919 Gabriele D'Annunzio, successful poet and occasional politician, declared himself Commandante of the city of Fiume in modern-day Croatia.

His intention - to establish a utopia based on his fascist and artistic ideals.

It was the dramatic pinnacle to an outrageous career.

Lucy Hughes-Hallett charts the controversial life of D'Annunzio, the debauched artist who became a national hero.

His evolution from idealist Romantic to radical right-wing revolutionary is a political parable.

Through his ideological journey, culminating in the failure of the Fiume endeavour, we witness the political turbulence of early 20th-century Europe and the emergence of fascism.

In The Pike, Hughes-Hallett addresses the cult of nationalism and the origins of political extremism - and at the centre of the book stands the charismatic D'Annunzio: a figure as deplorable as he is fascinating.