Emilio Gentile (born 1946, Bojano) is an Italian historian and professor, specializing in the history, ideology, and culture of Italian fascism. Gentile is considered one of Italy's foremost cultural historians of Fascist Italy and its ideology. He studied under the renowned Italian historian Renzo De Felice and wrote a book about him.Gentile serves as Professor of History at the Sapienza University of Rome. He considers fascism a form of political religion. He also applied the theory of political religion to the United States in the essay Politics as Religion (2006) regarding the sacralization of politics in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. In 2003, Gentile was awarded the Hans Sigrist Prize. Source: Wikipedia (en)