Free shipping on orders over $99
The Pursuit of Italy

The Pursuit of Italy

A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples

by David Gilmour
Downloadable audio file
Publication Date: 12/09/2017

Share This Book:

 
Did Garibaldi do Italy a disservice when he helped its disparate parts achieve unity? Was the goal of political unification a mistake? These questions are asked and answered in a number of ways in this engaging, original consideration of the many histories that contribute to the brilliance-and weakness-of Italy today.David Gilmour'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 and Virgil to Dante and the Medicis, from Garibaldi and Cavour to the controversial politicians of the twentieth century. Gilmour's wise account of the Risorgimento, the pivotal epoch in modern Italian history, debunks the nationalistic myths that surround it, though he paints a sympathetic portrait of Giuseppe Verdi, a beloved hero of the era. Gilmour shows that the glory of Italy has always lain in its regions, with their distinc­tive art, civic cultures, identities, and cuisines. Italy's inhabitants identified themselves not as Italians but as Tuscans and Venetians, Sicilians and Lombards, Neapolitans and Genoese. Italy's strength and culture still come from its regions rather than from its misconceived, mishandled notion of a unified nation.
ISBN:
9781541479975
9781541479975
Category:
Uncategorized
Format:
Downloadable audio file
Publication Date:
12-09-2017
Language:
English
Publisher:
Tantor Media, Incorporated
Country of origin:
United States
David Gilmour

David Gilmour's books include the prize-winning biographies, Curzon and The Last Leopard: A Life of Giuseppe di Lampedusa.

He is also the author of Cities of Spain, The Hungry Generations and several works on the politics of Spain and the Middle East.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a former Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford, he is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books.

Click 'Notify Me' to get an email alert when this item becomes available

Reviews

Be the first to review The Pursuit of Italy.