Italian History | The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796

Fantastic Narrative of Italian History | The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796 | Christopher Duggan

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	• The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796 Christopher Duggan Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008 - 688 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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Biased

Christopher Duggan writes an easily readable account of the Italian Risorgimento, an area he obviously knows a considerable amount about. Unfortunately, he follows the standard English interpretation of Italy as an unfortunate and lowly place. His contempt for Italy and Italians is obvious and leads him astray.

Claiming that Hapsburg Spain "stabilized" Italy by conquering the peninsula and stacking Rome in 1527 is absurd, but is a fine example of the general anti-Italian tone of the book. Another annoyance is Duggan's preference for non-Italian contemporary accounts and descriptions of Italy and Italians. Alessandro Manzoni (of great literary fame) is brushed to the side while Metternich's opinion on the lack of an Italian "nation" (while in reality a poor attempt to justify his government's (Austria) continued rule over Italy) is claimed to be an impassioned and accurate description.

I only rate it at 3 stars because the prejudices found here are the same repeated in all English accounts of the Italian's heroic overthrow of 3 centuries of foreign rule.

All in all, I would NOT recommend this book.

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Italian History

This book is a must for anyone interested in Italian history. It brings to life the expression that Italy is merely a geographic expression. It's broad brush treatment of the Mussolini years is excellent. The progression of Italian history as detailed in the book gives the reader a true sense of how milestones in Italian history follow logically from what has gone before. Moreover, the writing is not pedantic or academic. It's a good read. Highly reoommend this book.

Fantastic Narrative of Italian History

This is a captivating and well-written history of the last two centuries of Italy. The author manages to summarize the important events in Italian history, and at the same time weave throughout a consistent narrative of this story: namely, the struggles that Italy has had in forging a national "identity" out of the assorted states and peoples that have constituted it. Italy's sordid experiment with Fascism is seen, in this light, as the culmination of patriots' and nationalists' attempts to create this identity. They, of course, went too far and created instead disaster for the Italian people.

The book is written very well, and many of the chapters are page-turners. The chapter immediately following the collapse of fascism is particularly good, beginning with the death of Mussolini and the maltreatment of his corpse and ending with his body being interred in state, where is remains. It nicely sums up the fact that, while Fascism ought to have signaled an end to extreme nationalism in Italy, the anti-fascists were unable to complete the task.

It is difficult to follow some of the action and characters, especially in the beginning, where it is hard to keep track of all of those revolutions! The last two chapters don't offer that much, and it probably should be seen as more of a history from 1796-1957 rather than until present. But this is a great read!

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At 600 pages, this book is too short

Professor Duggan has quite the tale to tell--the Risorgimento, its antecedents and its results, but more broadly, the intellectual themes and practical problems of the Risorgimento and how those themes and problems have affected the course of Italian history since 1796. Professor Duggan is obviously a master of his subject, which by itself would be a sufficient recommendation for this book. But as a wonderful bonus, Professor Duggan is a talented writer with a brisk style, a dry sense of humor (e.g., "In life Victor Emmanuel had been a rather poor national symbol, in death he was to make amends." (p. 305)) and an instinct for the telling detail (e.g., "D'Annunzio had always craved a beautiful death in a noble cause; throughout his life he had been haunted by the martyrdom of St. Sebastian." (p. 418)). The book includes dozens of quotations from contemporaneous sources illustrating Duggan's main points, which I won't repeat here because they are pretty well covered in the editorial reviews. I had the sense while reading this book that Professor Duggan probably had another 500 pages of materials he wanted to include, but his editors said "basta--enough!" I, however, would gladly have read another 500 pages; the book was an absolute page-turner.

My only disappointment is that the book does not cover post-WWII Italy in much detail, although according to Professor Duggan, all the Risorgimento themes and problems are still very much present in contemporary Italian society. It doubtless makes sense to wind the story down in the mid-1990's, but only about 10% of the book is devoted to the 50 years following 1946, or 25% of the time covered by the book. One can only hope that Professor Duggan is planning another book devoted solely to post-WWII Italy.

That said, I cannot recommend this book highly enough for all English-speakers who have fallen in love with Italy and want better to understand the object of their affections--and especially, her family quarrels and secrets.

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A sweeping, first-of-its-kind history of the creation of modern Italy

The birth of modern Italy was a messy affair. Inspired by a small group of writers, intellectuals, and politicians, Italy struggled in the first half of the nineteenth century to unite all Italians under one rule, throwing aside a multitude of corrupt old rulers and foreign occupiers. In the midst of this turmoil, Italian politicians felt compelled by a ?force of destiny? hideously at odds with Italian reality. After great sacrifice Italy was finally unified -- and turned out to be just as fragile, impoverished, and backward as it had been before. The resentments this created led to Italy?s destructive role in World War I, the subsequent rise of Mussolini and authoritarianism in the 1920s and ?30s, and the nation's humiliating defeat in World War II. This haunting legacy deeply informs the Italy of today.

Christopher Duggan skillfully interweaves Italy's art, music, literature, and architecture with its economic and social realities and political development to tell this extraordinary European story. The first English-language book to cover the full scope of modern Italy, from its origins more than two hundred years ago to the present, The Force of Destiny is a brilliant and comprehensive study -- and a frightening example of how easily nation-building and nationalism can slip toward authoritarianism and war.

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