Italy
A Short History

This book presents a clear, concise account of Italian history from the Ice Age to the present.

Harry Hearder (Author), Jonathan Morris (Contributions by)

9780521806138, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 November 2001

308 pages, 8 b/w illus. 7 maps
23.6 x 15.7 x 2.4 cm, 0.609 kg

'… there are few English historians of Italy who write with the same ease and clarity as Hearder. Equally, there are few who would be able to manage the trick, as Hearder does, of condensing 3,000 years of history into one slim volume while still providing the reader with a detailed narrative of events and personalities, and a sense of historical perspective. it is for these reasons that Italy: A Short History deserves a second outing.' History

Italy: A Short History is a concise but comprehensive account of Italian history from the Ice Age to the present day. It is intended for both students of Italian history and culture and the general reader, whether tourist, business-person or traveller, with an interest in Italian affairs. Harry Hearder places the main political developments in Italian history in their economic and social context, and shows how these related to the great moments of artistic and cultural endeavour. Amongst key events, he analyses the growth and decline of the Roman Empire, the remarkable cultural achievements of the Renaissance, Italian unification and the contradictions of the fascist dictatorship of Mussolini. Jonathan Morris brings the work up to the present day with an authoritative but colourful history of the corruption scandals that brought down the post-war Italian political system in the 1990s and the new political forces that have emerged in its place.

1. Italy in the classical world
2. The early Middle Ages
3. The high Middle Ages
4. The Renaissance
5. The political and cultural eclipse of Italy
6. The Risorgimento, 1790–1861
7. From Unification to Fascism, 1861–1922
8. The Fascist disaster, 1922–45
9. Italy since the Second World War, 1945–2000.

Subject Areas: Educational: History [YQH]