History of the Italian People

By Giuliano Procacci

Book Overview

From the early years when its cities and towns were self-governing to the national rise to power of fascism this century Italy has undergone many upheavals: political social economic and cultural. Pinpointing the year A.D. 1000 as a time when European supremacy began to take root the author traces Italy's progression within its European context. Communes of the 11th century to the birth of the European Renaissance and on to the role of Italy in two world wars this study of a people's evolution won the author the Viareggio Prize

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140135901
• ISBN13: 9780140135909
• Release Date: June 1991
• Publisher: Penguin UK
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 1.4" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

An excellent introduction

Gracefully written and heartfelt. Procacci throws a wide net (Italian history since the year 1000), but the format of his book helps the reader keep things straight: each chapter covering a certain period consists of subsections on five different city-states, so that a reader wishing to read only about, say, Florence, can easily follow just that strand. Procacci focuses on political history -- he characterizes his approach as "ethical-political," -- with the occasional foray into social, economic and cultural history when necessary. This book was originally was written for a French readership; I read it in Italian. I hope the English edition features the 1997 the afterword, which is quite moving: Procacci reflects soberly and sincerely on his formation and his practice as a historian, and yet he is writing about events that he lived through, and he keenly conveys his own hopes and disappointments.