In fascist Italy between the wars, a woman was generally an exemplary wife and mother or else. The "or else," mostly forgotten or overlooked in accounts of femininity under fascism, is what concerns Robin Pickering-Iazzi. Reading works by women of the period, Pickering-Iazzi shows how they refuted stereotypes that were imposed on them by the fascist regime and continue to be accepted and perpetuated into our day.

The writers Pickering-Iazzi considers comprise both the popular and the critically acclaimed. She situates their work - short stories, romance novels, autobiographies, neorealist novels, poetry, and avant-garde writings - not only within the context of fascist discourse but also within that of intellectuals and artists who did not keep to the fascist line.

In each case, Pickering-Iazzi examines specific issues of gender and genre - notions of women and the nation, rural life, the metropolis, technology, consumer culture, and modern forms of femininity and masculinity.