A Concise History of Italy (Cambridge Concise Histories)

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 334 pages
• Published by: Cambridge University Press May 27, 1994
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0521408482
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0521408486
• Book Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 1.1 pounds

Product Review
' a detailed, well-structured guide to the problems that still dog the heels of this geographically booted country.' Teaching History

Product Description
Since its creation in 1861, Italy has struggled to develop an effective political system and a secure sense of national identity. This concise history covers the period from the fall of the Roman Empire in the west to the present day, but focuses on the difficulties Italy has faced in forging a nation state during the past two centuries. The opening chapters consider the geographical and cultural obstacles to unity, and survey the long centuries of political fragmentation in the peninsula since the sixth century. It was this legacy of fragmentation that Italy's new rulers had to strive to overcome when the country became united, more by accident than design, in 1859-61.

Reader Reviews
This book offers the best introduction available to the history of Italy. In less than three hundred pages, Duggan offers a concise summary of the past 1600 years of the peninsula. His focus in this book is on the multitude of efforts during this period to build an Italian nation out of the rubble of the Roman empire, a goal only achieved in 1860 and then in an imperfect, fragmentary form, with subsequent generations left with the more difficult task of creating a national identity. Duggan recounts this with insight and the result is essential reading, not only for students of Italy's past but for those seeking insight into the nation's troubled present as well.