History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics, 1943-1988 - Softcover

...the best single work on postwar Italian history...readers will find this work invaluable. "John S. Hill, History: Reviews of New Books" A work of major importance. It has a moral grandeur and a coherence of interpretation and approach that all in all likelihood will ensure it classic status... No future account of the Italian republic will be able to ignore it. "Christopher Duggan, The Times Literary Supplement" The achievement of Paul Ginsborg's massive volume is that the political drama is brilliantly interwoven with the whole cultural and economic history of the country... Page after page may be read with interest and delight by all true English lovers of Italy. "Michael Foot, Guardian" This is the best account of contemporary Italian history available to the English reader. "Jonathan Morris, The Times""

From a war-torn and poverty-stricken country, regional and predominantly agrarian, to the success story of recent years, Italy has witnessed the most profound transformation--economic, social and demographic--in its entire history. Yet the other recurrent theme of the period has been the overwhelming need for political reform--and the repeated failure to achieve it. Professor Ginsborg's authoritative work--the first to combine social and political perspectives--is concerned with both the tremendous achievements of contemporary Italy and "the continuities of its history that have not been easily set aside."