The Archipelago: Italy Since 1945

Description

A sparkling history of Italy from the post-war to the present by renowned historian John Foot Italy emerged from the Second World War in ruins. Divided, invaded and economically broken, it was a nation that some claimed had ceased to exist. By the 1960s, Italy could boast the fastest-growing economy in the world, as rural society disappeared almost overnight. In The Archipelago, acclaimed historian John Foot chronicles Italy's tumultuous history from the post-war period to the present. From the silent assimilation of fascists into society after 1945 to the troubling reign of Silvio Berlusconi, and from the artistic peak of neorealist cinema to the celebration of Italy's 150th birthday in 2011, he examines both the corrupt and celebrated sides of the country. While often portrayed as a failed state on the margins of Europe, Italy has instead been at the centre of innovation and change - a political laboratory. Through stories of trials, TV programmes, songs and football matches, moments of violence and beauty, epochal social transformation and suffocating continuities, this new history tells the fascinating story of a country always marked by scandal but with the constant ability to re-invent itself. Comprising original research and lively insights, The Archipelago chronicles the crises and modernisations of over seventy years of post-war Italy, from its fields, factories, squares and housing estates to the political intrigue of Rome.

John Foot is Professor of Modern Italian History in the Department of Italian at the University of Bristol. His publications include Milan Since the Miracle, Calcio, Italy's Divided Memory, Pedalare! Pedalare!, Modern Italy and The Man Who Closed the Asylums. He spent twenty years in Milan in the 1980s and 1990s and now lives in Bristol.

It's an astonishing achievement, and structurally so innovative: a pointillistic portrait of a complicated country as the title suggests. It captures the sweep of post-war Italian history but is so precise and detailed as well. The assembling of great stories, anecdotes, quotations and characters makes reading it effortless but also immensely rewarding -- Tobias Jones An enjoyable, highly readable history that manages to bring murky, often fiendishly complex events into the light, providing insight and clarity. That is no small achievement * Sunday Times * [A] lively history ... Superbly researched * Observer * '[A] breathless and entertaining (or despairing) voyage through postwar Italy ... A pleasure to read. It is not just about politics. It is also full of characters, vignettes and interesting facts -- Donald Sassoon * Literary Review * Admirable ... Foot's expertise in an illuminating range of subcultures is deep * Daily Telegraph * This deft history book guides readers through Italy's turbulent, complicated (and corrupt) postwar history * The Times * [A] fine, ambitious book ... A series of neatly written tableaux and portraits * Herald * Bold ... challenging ... accessibly written ... Even the expert reader will find much of interest in it. -- Stephen Gundle * Modern Italy * Sparkling ... alive with terrific characters ... The key to [Foot's] success lies with the larger-than-life characters who people these pages -- Praise for 'Pedalare! Pedalare!', Spectator If you read only one sporting book this year, make it Pedalare! Pedalare! ... Absorbing, compelling and brilliant -- Praise for 'Pedalare! Pedalare!', Evening Standard The first general account in English of the second biking culture ... As this year's Giro d'Italia hopefuls head out over a dramatic parcours, the ghosts Foot evokes will stir once more -- Praise for 'Pedalare! Pedalare!', Independent on Sunday More than just a pacy account of races and rivalries, this erudite and absorbing history of Italian cycling over the past century situates the sport in war, scandal and politics -- Praise for 'Pedalare! Pedalare!', Daily Telegraph This story of Italy's national sport - cycling - is related in this sparkling history, featuring a cast of eccentric characters -- Praise for 'Pedalare! Pedalare!', Observer