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A Brief History of Italy
Despite the Roman Empire's famous 500-year reign over Europe, parts of Africa and the Middle East, Italy does not have the same long national history as states such as France or England. Divided for much of its history, Italy's regions have been, at various times, parts of bigger, often antagonistic empires, notably those of Spain and Austria. In addition, its challenging and varied terrain made consolidation of political control all the more difficult. This concise history covers, in very readable fashion, the formative events in Italy's past from the rise of Rome, through a unified country in thrall to fascism in the first half of the 20th century right up to today.
The birthplace of the Renaissance and the place where the Baroque was born, Italy has always been a hotbed of culture. Within modern Italy country there is fierce regional pride in the cultures and identities that mark out Tuscany, Rome, Sicily and Venice, to name just a few of Italy's many famous regions. Jeremy Black draws on the diaries, memoirs and letters of historic travellers to Italy to gain insight into the passions of its people, first chronologically then regionally.
In telling Italy's story, Black examines what it is that has given Italians such cultural clout - from food and drink, music and fashion, to art and architecture - and explores the causes and effects of political events and the divisions that still exist today.
The birthplace of the Renaissance and the place where the Baroque was born, Italy has always been a hotbed of culture. Within modern Italy country there is fierce regional pride in the cultures and identities that mark out Tuscany, Rome, Sicily and Venice, to name just a few of Italy's many famous regions. Jeremy Black draws on the diaries, memoirs and letters of historic travellers to Italy to gain insight into the passions of its people, first chronologically then regionally.
In telling Italy's story, Black examines what it is that has given Italians such cultural clout - from food and drink, music and fashion, to art and architecture - and explores the causes and effects of political events and the divisions that still exist today.
- GenresHistoryItalyNonfiction
Audible Audio
Published July 5, 2018
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About the author
Jeremy Black
429 books198 followersJeremy Black is an English historian, who was formerly a professor of history at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US.
Black is the author of over 180 books, principally but not exclusively on 18th-century British politics and international relations, and has been described by one commentator as "the most prolific historical scholar of our age". He has published on military and political history, including Warfare in the Western World, 1882–1975 (2001) and The World in the Twentieth Century (2002).
Black is the author of over 180 books, principally but not exclusively on 18th-century British politics and international relations, and has been described by one commentator as "the most prolific historical scholar of our age". He has published on military and political history, including Warfare in the Western World, 1882–1975 (2001) and The World in the Twentieth Century (2002).
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 29, 2018
The history of Italy rarely gets treatment in a single volume. Usually we get the Romans, or the city of Rome, and then Mussolini and the fascists. But Italy is has a deep and intriguing history, which Jeremy Black does an excellent job of making it understandable. The Byzantines, the French, the Spanish and the Austrians have all battled for control of Italy over the centuries. It was made more complicated by the machinations of the Papacy. Along with all the wars and violence, Italy had remarkable achievements with the Renaissance, and gave advancements in the sciences and art. The Medici pioneered banking and finances. Eventual unification came, but the divisions between the north and south have never been reconciled, and it remains big factor in Italian politics today. Venice, Genoa and Sicily have fascinating histories in their own right. Italy after disaster in the First World War, the fascist takeover and World War 2. Italy did not develop strong institutions, corruption was rife and the mafia was dominant. The end of the Cold War saw a realignment in Italian politics, with an anti-corruption drive. Then there was the rise and fall of Berlusconi, who bore more similarities to Donald Trump than any other politician. Recently Italy has seen the rise of the populists who now control the government. Italy deserves to have its history explored in more depth.
July 16, 2019
Unfortunately I think the author bit off more than he could chew with this book. I appreciate that the task he set himself was difficult but at times the content was so hard to digest that I would go through chunks of text without actually absorbing anything. Whole paragraphs were sometimes just filled with names and dates and without any existing background knowledge this was not helpful or interesting material. I did take some good key messages from the book - it just could have been much better presented.
September 29, 2021
Left wing bias.
June 2, 2019
It's not an easy task to pack the rich and multi-sided history of Italy into one relatively short book. So, the credit should be given to the author. From Etruscan civilization, through Ancient Roman times and Medieval age to Spanish / Austrian / French period until unification, Mussolini and modern times - it is rather well done.
The scrupulous details of various wars, battles, kings and regents was at times too much for such a concise book. More interesting was description of ordinary people's life in the Medieval Italy (which mostly was quite miserable apart from nobles and priests) as well as discussion about the roots of and the signs of regional inequality (between the North and the South). The author's relaxed, personal attitude to Italy (especially to what has happened in the past 30-50 years) is beneficial for the book.
Historical books could always benefit from some maps or illustrations. There was none here.
All in all, a good quick overview of the history of the country. Being a "Brief History", it is inevitably full of compromises as of what is covered there and to what extent.
The scrupulous details of various wars, battles, kings and regents was at times too much for such a concise book. More interesting was description of ordinary people's life in the Medieval Italy (which mostly was quite miserable apart from nobles and priests) as well as discussion about the roots of and the signs of regional inequality (between the North and the South). The author's relaxed, personal attitude to Italy (especially to what has happened in the past 30-50 years) is beneficial for the book.
Historical books could always benefit from some maps or illustrations. There was none here.
All in all, a good quick overview of the history of the country. Being a "Brief History", it is inevitably full of compromises as of what is covered there and to what extent.
January 5, 2022
A better title for this book would be A British Tourist's History of Italy.
It regularly descends into a litany of names and dates with little context for why they're important but then goes into copious detail on Mussolini and the war years. It was briefly good when recounting the "history" from 1990 to 2017.
However, coming from the pen of someone with so many history books to his name, this is a deplorable offering. He regularly quotes novels, mostly written by non-Italians, but barely references other historians. As a bare minimum, a "brief history" ought to direct one to more detailed texts.
It regularly descends into a litany of names and dates with little context for why they're important but then goes into copious detail on Mussolini and the war years. It was briefly good when recounting the "history" from 1990 to 2017.
However, coming from the pen of someone with so many history books to his name, this is a deplorable offering. He regularly quotes novels, mostly written by non-Italians, but barely references other historians. As a bare minimum, a "brief history" ought to direct one to more detailed texts.
October 30, 2018
Concise, but feels a little bit roughly edited in places - as if Jeremy Black (not wanting to over-generalize) started with a long paragraph and was forced to cut it down to size. This gets better as the book goes on, and he doesn't have to cram the entire Roman empire into ten pages. Ignoring that occasional flaw, for a book of this size he did do particularly well to fit in both a general and some regional history and culture.
I liked the primer on modern Italian politics, and some of the quirkier asides.
I liked the primer on modern Italian politics, and some of the quirkier asides.
March 17, 2021
I really wanted to like this book, but time after time I fell asleep reading it. I also found it to have a strong male bias, not just in how it presented almost only men in Italian history, but also how it excused that bias... Sort of a not-very-effective attempt to merge nonfiction with memoir, and I wish the author had kept his own views a bit less central...
May 25, 2020
A revealing read, contains nuggets of information. However, I noticed that the author has focused on the more complex period of history for Italy, which was the period of disintegration. In my opinion, to explain this period in detail the author had to write a separate book about it. Overall, it is insightful, and if Italy as a country remains rather undiscovered to you, this book is a boon. Worthwhile.
July 17, 2022
Reading this book prior to our trip to Italy was an excellent idea! It gave me context for what I saw while I was there. I should've started the book earlier though. I was easily bored listening to it and didn't finish before we left. I missed the part about modern Italy. I did find that very interesting after the trip though! I will definitely read another book from this series prior to our next trip abroad!
July 6, 2018
BRAVO!
As a passionate lover of Italy I applaud Jeremy Black for his concise and erudite new compact book. Jeremy portrays individual regional histories of Italy and its people.with his usual thoroughness. Loved the inclusion of Italy's relationship with the coffee machine and coffee.
As a passionate lover of Italy I applaud Jeremy Black for his concise and erudite new compact book. Jeremy portrays individual regional histories of Italy and its people.with his usual thoroughness. Loved the inclusion of Italy's relationship with the coffee machine and coffee.
February 3, 2021
It's a rare thing a concise history of Italy. A story too easily overpowered by the Roman Empire and subsequently the Church. But it's a fascinating rich and nuanced take that has many parallels for our time. I highly recommend it.
December 15, 2019
Very bad history book.
June 26, 2023
3,5/5
April 13, 2024
2 stars because from Mussolini onwards it is decent. Otherwise, very sloppy.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews