"Fantoni presents us with a fascinating, richly researched, and marvelously written work. In any format, this book wins the reader." (Roy Domenico, Annali d'italianistica, Vol. 40, 2022) "The book presents a fascinating history of ideological clashes between the PCI and various others ... . Overall, however, the structure and the content of the volume function efficiently, and it is written in an engaging and captivating style. Italy through the Red Lens is a timely contribution that will undoubtedly prove to be an invaluable resource for scholars and students alike." (Dom Holdaway, Modern Italy, October 20, 2021)
1. Introduction
Part I The Italian Communist Party between Socialist Realism and Neorealism (1944–1956)
2. Togliatti’s Partito nuovo and Italian cinema
3. Socialist Realism Italian-Style: PCI Cinematic Propaganda in the Stalin Era
Part II Dealing with The Modern (1956–1970)
4. Peace and Sputnik, the Boom, and Television (1956–1964)
5. The First Years of Unitelefilm and the PCI After Togliatti (1964–1967)
6. The Workers, the Students, and The Election Campaign of 1968
7. The Lice and the Whale: Filmmakers, Militant Cinema and the Italian Communist Party
Part III A Decade of Living Dangerously: The Turbulent Peak (and the Seeds of Decline) of the Italian Communist Party (1970–1979)
8. The Early 1970s: Unitelefilm, the Fascist Threat, and the ‘Historic Compromise’
9. Hegemony Within Reach (1974–1976)
10. Women’s Issues, Feminism, and the PCI
11. Hegemony Fades Away (1977–1979)
12. Conclusion
Gianluca Fantoni is Senior Lecturer in Modern History at Nottingham Trent University, UK.