The Risorgimento, the period of nation-state formation, has always been of particular significance not only in Italian historiography, but also for the transnational and comparative history of the emergence of nation states. Gabriele Clemens presents a new, up-to-date and well-founded overview of the history of the Risorgimento. Her account covers a whole century of Italian history, beginning around 1770, before the French Revolution, and ending in 1870 with the conquest of Rome by the troops of the emerging nation state. This balanced account combines the perspective of political cultural history with an economic and social history approach. At the same time, it offers new interpretations, for example on the role of the nobility and the bourgeoisie. It questions the common assertion that the masses were mobilised through art, music and literature, and critically analyses the significance of Garibaldi, the man and the myth. The path to the nation state is described as the work of a state-supporting elite that consistently operated in transnational networks.
Author
Clemens, Gabriele B.
Title
The Risorgimento
Details
English text, 24 colour illustrations. 272 pages.
State
new
Subtitle
Italy’s Path to Modernity, 1770–1870
Böhlau Verlag Ursulaplatz 1 50668 Köln Deutschland
