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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sir David Gilmour is one of Britain's most admired and accomplished historical writers and biographers. His previous books include The Last Leopard, The Long Recessional (FSG, 2002), and, most recently, The Ruling Caste (FSG, 2006).

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (October 25, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0374283168
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374283162
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.65 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.47 x 1.61 x 9.07 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #538,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #503 in Italian History (Books)
- #710 in general Italy Travel Guides
- #1,597 in Travelogues & Travel Essays

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4.4 576 ratings

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4.4 out of 5

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Paul S. Bodine

Very fine

Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2024

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Gilmour knows and loves his subject well. His graceful writing style, eye for the telling detail/anecdote, and fair but personal point-of-view makes this magisterial history a pleasure to read.

One person found this helpful

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John Powers

Disagree with parts of it, and still think it is excellent

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2012

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Gilmour's Pursuit of Italy is a fine summary of the historical regionalism and effects of that regionalism on Modern Italy. I could not put it down, finding it engaging and amusing, while still bringing up many one-off (maybe two-off) bits of analysis and perceptions of Italy that make this such a valuable piece.

Gilmour tends to criticize and minimize the evaluation of the Catholic Church in Italy, which is a bit troubling. For example, on the subject of Vivaldi

"Its most talented musician was the violinist and composer Antonio Vivaldi whose job at a local orphanage for girls, the Conservatorio della pieta, obliged him to provide his employers with two concertos a month"

Good to know...but what exactly was Antonio Vivaldi's job? Well..he was a Roman Catholic Priest, known as the "Red Priest" (due to his red hair)..that's Father Vivaldi at the orphanage. We would never know this from Gilmour, as he seems to want to write out the charitable and glorious effects of Catholicism on Italian culture, but come on...how do you rewrite the Catholic out of Vivaldi?

I still give this book 5 stars, as it is terrific history and cultural commentary, but found myself questioning where opinion starts and history starts. Doesn't spoil the book, in fact, makes it more interesting, as the author's observations are definitely slanted from an interesting viewpoint.

12 people found this helpful

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David H. MacCallum

deep knowledge of italy and the italians makes a wonderful read

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2012

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Many of us have been to Italy or know Italians or have married an Italian or have driven an Italian car or eaten wonderful Italian food or have marveled at Italian art or have listened with wonder to Italian music or have admired Italian architecture or have read the great Italian poets or have experienced its sense of "la dolce vita". In fact, few, if any, people have had such an indelible impression on our daily lives as the Italians. Yet Italy itself, the land of the Italian people, has had a difficult history. Difficult, in fact, is not a remotely appropriate adjective to describe a history full of feckless leaders, unremitting intrigues and conspiracies, massive corruption and military ineptitude.

David Gilmour, in this authoritative overview of Italian history, describes the central problem with Italy. "Geography and the vicissitudes of history made certain countries, including France and Britain, more important than the sum of their parts...In Italy the opposite was true. The parts are so stupendous that a single region...would rival every other country in the world in the quality of its art and the civilization of its past." Italy, Gilmour concludes, has produced an unending kaleidoscope of great human achievement but continues to be unable to create a strong, effective national government that can produce a great society. In fact, in the two great periods of Italian history - the Renaissance and the Middle Ages - Italy was in fact not a nation but a collection of vastly different regional kingdoms, in many cases kingdoms in which Italian was not a well-understood language.

Italy has had occasional national leaders, some of whom were not in fact Italian, but it has also had its full share of destructive, power-mad leaders, including Mussolini and, more recently Berlusconi. Only with Julius Caesar, now two thousand years in the past, has Italy produced a leader on the scale of Bismark, Peter the Great, deGaulle, or Churchill. Gilmour searches for reasons to explain why it is that Italy has failed to become the great nation-state that its enormous talents deserve. He does this with skill, copious knowledge, terrific insight and a continual sense of ironic humor. He knows Italy well. He explains Italy's plight with great clarity and a firm grasp on the consequences of its citizens to place their region first and the nation second.

This is, at times, a sad story. Just as the Civil War in the United States ultimately made a strong nation out of two strong regions, Italy was in the midst of a failed effort to make a nation out of regions, some not larger than cities, such as Venice, Naples and Florence. These divisions and regional jealousies exist today. Sicily is still only remotely governed by national authorities. The difference between the North of Italy, industrious, developed and European, and the South of Italy, economically weak and close to ungovernable, remains stark.

You will find in this book a wonderful series of historical sketches, outlining the high and low points of Italian history. One reads the book, however, with a mounting sense of disappointment that Italy could not have become more than it is. It is a complex story and Gilmour tells this tangled tale very well. You will not, however, find the key to the way out. Italy is the land of Italians and it seems that these enormously talented people have a way of living that is totally unique and admirable in so many ways. Their life has worked for them for two thousand years and will probably carry on roughly the same, with all the achievements and all the disappointments, for quite a bit longer.

19 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Great book for being introduced to Italian history.

Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2023

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Well-written, extremely informative, and guided by a compelling theme. Highly recommend.

2 people found this helpful

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D

Interesting and good book, but with weirdness that brings it down

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2016

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This is an odd book because, deep down, it is a good book and an enjoyable read. One that, as someone with a basic understanding of Italian history, but not one that is too extensive, I was happy to read and felt like I learned quite a bit from. However, it has some issues and gets weird at times.

One thing about the book is that it frequently talks about how many people or administrations are often mischaracterized by history books. This is a good thing, as an honest and realistic understanding of people and history is only good. But the weirdness starts to pop up during these times when the author will let slip (or blatantly state) what seems like personal attacks and sniping or name-calling at people. It is jarring to see what is a pretty even-handed take on things turn into an obviously subjective opinion stated as an obvious fact and then turned into what can almost be called ad hominem jabs. I’m not even talking about things directed toward Berlusconi, but toward figures of history that are in no way personal adversaries of the author, yet feel like that. It, at times, undermines his main points (and unnecessarily so, since he makes the points without them).

The other weirdness happens when, seemingly out of nowhere, the author starts slipping into meandering writing that just keeps going without adding a huge amount of insight or information. You see this often near the ends of chapters or when a concluding discussion seems relevant, and the worst offender is the very end of the book. I mean it just keeps going on in a rambling, almost stream-of-consciousness style that feels like a failure of the editor to say “uhhh….this isn’t making the book better.” It seems as if, when the actual content of history isn’t at the forefront, the quality of the writing gets noticeably worse.

An area where the content is too much is whenever opera comes up. It is clear that the author is a big fan of opera, because no matter how relevant (and he sure tries to show that it is), even if it is only tangential to the rest of the chapter, the author makes sure to talk extensively about it. Very extensively. It stands out and is odd.

Finally, I do not think he actually successfully made the argument that about Italy being almost impossibly divided and the Risorgimento may have been bad. He states many things, but I was unconvinced because it isn’t clear that the alternatives would have been any better or different. Yes, the points are made that “look, they are different from each other”, “they speak different dialects, or at least used to”, “there is a geographical divide”, “people from different regions aren’t like people from other regions”. But these are not special to Italy whatsoever, and I many ways characterized the U.S.

Overall, I think this is a good book that is constrained by its weirdness. There is a good, if not great, book in there that a good editor could have pulled out.

12 people found this helpful

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Amazon customer

very interesting

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2023

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a very interesting good read.

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Top reviews from other countries

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lakelley

Molto interessante!

Reviewed in Italy on September 24, 2023

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É molto buono. Ho imparato molto.

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arun p.

nice overview of italy

Reviewed in India on October 27, 2020

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born in India , i knew nothing about Italy except it is in Europe, now i can proudly say that i know something about italy's history, the roman empire, the pope, Vatican, venice republic and the founding fathers. surprisingly i have grown respect for Garibaldi and the red shirts, whom i never knew before.

One person found this helpful

Booklover

Highly entertaining

Reviewed in Germany on October 6, 2019

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A very amusing and witty potted history of Italy - Ideal as background information to the country.

Lee

Absorbing reading

Reviewed in Spain on December 24, 2016

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I wanted more background on the culture after a trip there. Very readable and informative account for the general public.

Amazon Customer

Superbly written

Reviewed in Canada on September 21, 2011

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This volume is extremely well written - detailed, yet easy to understand without becoming tedious. The best I have ever seen on this topic. Highly recommended.

4 people found this helpful

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The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples Hardcover – October 25, 2011

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