The pursuit of Italy, a history of a land, its regions, and their peoples, David Gilmour
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Classification
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Creator
1
Content
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Label
The pursuit of Italy, a history of a land, its regions, and their peoples, David Gilmour
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
resource.biographical
contains biographical information
Illustrations
illustrationsmapsplates
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Main title
The pursuit of Italy
Nature of contents
bibliography
Oclc number
706020981
Responsibility statement
David Gilmour
Sub title
a history of a land, its regions, and their peoples
Summary
The author, a historian has provided a coherent, persuasive, and entertaining interpretation of the paradoxes of Italian life, past and present. Did Garibaldi do Italy a disservice when he helped its disparate parts achieve unity? Was the goal of political unification a mistake? The author's exploration of Italian life over the centuries is filled with provocative anecdotes as well as personal observations, and is peopled with the great figures of the Italian past, from Cicero to the Medicis, from Garibaldi to the politicians of the twentieth century. Gilmour's account of the Risorgimento, the pivotal epoch in modern Italian history, debunks the nationalistic myths that surround it. Italy's inhabitants identify themselves not as Italians but as Tuscans and Venetians, Sicilians and Neapolitans. This book shows that the glory of Italy has always lain in its regions, with their distinctive art, civic cultures, identities, and cuisines, rather than from its misconceived, mishandled notion of a unified nation. -- From publisher description
Table of contents
Diverse Italies. Fractured geography ; Italian peoples ; Linguistic Italy -- Imperial Italies. Roman Italy ; Barbarian and Byzantine Italy ; Italia Germanica -- Cities and powers. Communal dreams ; Communal realities ; Republican Italy ; Princely Italy -- Adriatic Venice -- Disputed Italies. Foreign rulers ; Enlightened Italy ; Napoleonic Italy ; Italy and the Restoration -- Revolutionary Italies. Romantic Italy ; Insurgent Italy ; Operatic Italy -- The making of Italy. Piedmont, 1850s ; Lombardy and the duchies, 1859 ; Sicily and Naples, 1860 ; Venice (1866) and Rome (1870) -- Legendary Italy. The generation of giants ; The wisest statesman ; The noblest Roman ; Father of the nation ; Some generals and an admiral ; The Risorgimento without heroes -- Making Italians. Piedmont comes to Naples ; Sicily goes downhill ; Rome and Parliament ; Beautiful legends ; The quest for glory ; The bear of Busseto -- Nationalist Italy. Little Italy ; Bellicose Italy ; Ruptured Italy -- Fascist Italy. Italia Romana ; Italia Imperiale -- Cold War Italy. Christian Democrats ; Communists ; Affluent Italy -- Modern Italy. Centrifugal Italy ; Berlusconi ; Resilient Italy
Incoming Resources
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