History of Contemporary Italy
1943-80

A social and political analysis of the Italian Peninsula since the fall of Mussolini. Achievements and political parties are described as well as matters concerning family life and the declining role of the Catholic Church.

In this long-awaited book (already a major bestseller in Italy), Ginsborg has created a fascinating, sophisticated and definitive account of how Italy has coped, or failed to cope, with the past two decades. Contemporary Italy strongly mirrors Britain - the countries have roughly the same extent, population size and GNP - and yet they are fantastically different. Ginsborg sees this difference as most fundamentally clear in the role of the family and it is the family which is at the heart of Italian politics and business. Anyone wishing to understand contemporary Italy will find it essential to have this enormously attractive and intelligent book.