Kategoria BISAC: History >> Europe - Italy

The 1930s to the 1950s in Italy witnessed large increases in film-going, radio-listening, and the sale of music and weekly magazines. The industries that made and sold commercial, cultural products were transformed by the new technologies of reproduction and new approaches to marketing and distribution.

Yet historians tend to place the "real" genesis of mass culture in the 1960s, or to generalize about the harnessing of mass culture to the Fascist political project, without considering what kind of mass culture existed at the time and whether this harnessing was successful. This book...

Mussolini's bold claims upon the monuments and rhetoric of ancient Rome have been the subject of a number of recent books. D. Medina Lasansky shows us a much less familiar side of the cultural politics of Italian Fascism, tracing its wide-ranging efforts to adapt the nation's medieval and Renaissance heritage to satisfy the regime's programs of national regeneration. Anyone acquainted with the beauties of Tuscany will be surprised to learn that architects, planners, and administrators working within Fascist programs fabricated much of what today's tourists admire as authentic. Public...

Little has been written about the defense of the Kingdom of Northern Italy, and this is the first study in English to detail the two-year conflict (1813-1814) within the larger context of the Napoleonic Wars. The French commander responsible for the defense was Eugene Beauharnais, stepson of Napoleon and son-in-law of the King of Bavaria. Outnumbered three to one, Beauharnais fought an outstanding defensive campaign, covering all of Napoleon's southern front while Napoleon faced off against the main allied armies as they invaded France.

This was only Beauharnais's third...

How and why has the city of Florence, one of the great treasure houses of western civilization, been reduced to little more than a Renaissance Disneyland for tourists? Florence, once a center of national intellectual creativity, has become a city with two separate lives. Its historic center caters to and profits from tourists, while the periphery houses a population that endures overcrowding, decaying infrastructure, and an exorbitant cost of living. In Politics in a Museum, James Miller investigates Florence's losing struggle with modern times.

He traces the city's...

During the 20th century, Italy experienced some regrettable political developments. It was the first European nation after World War I in which a mass militia-party of revolutionary nationalism achieved power and abolished parliamentary democracy with the goal of building a totalitarian state. It was also the first in Europe to institutionalize the sacralization of politics and to celebrate officially the cult of the leader as a demi-God. These achievements were not accidents. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Italian nationalist movements, from the national radicalism of La Voce to...

Through most of their history, Italians have identified more with their own locales than with what is now known as Italy. This comprehensive reference allows readers to view the land as its denizens have for centuries--regionally. Domenico superbly surveys the regional and provincial characteristics and culture of the 20 regions, including economy, cuisine, history, recent politics, and arts. This is the only single general reference volume in English on Italy's regions and will be highly in demand by teachers, students of Italian language and culture, and travelers.

Italy's enormous...

What is Italy? In 1814 Austrian Chancellor M. de Metternich dismissed it as a mere geographical expression, because political control of the peninsula had long been divided among self-governing cities, possessions of foreign dynasties, and the Vatican. Prior to that, Italy had formed the home base of the Roman Empire. It was not until 1861 that a united Italy emerged. This concise, and clearly written account explores Italian history and culture from the Etruscans to the present day.

Starting with an introduction providing data on Italy's geography, people, and current government, the...