-The book offers an opportunity to look at the genesis of national identity as it was constructed in a specific stateless and multicultural context through cultural transfer and the impact of the contemporary media. It explores Polish reactions to the Italian Risorgimento which at the time represented the quintessential struggle for national freedom and offered hope for other oppressed nationalities. The Polish intellectuals were inflamed by the Italian movement, mostly as supporters, but also as its fierce opponents. They took on the Risorgimento s political and civilizational...