The Duties of Man and Other Essays

At the time of his death in March of 1872, The Times of London recorded that "We have to announce to-day the death of a man who in his time has played a most singularly part upon the theatre of European politics; on whose name has for years been regarded as a symbol of revolution." Giuseppe Mazzini's name today is not nearly as familiar to modern readers as he was to avid readers of the mid-Victorian age for his name was virtually synonymous with the revolutionary spirit. To his countrymen, he wrote of the innate duties of man toward God, Country and Humanity. Included in THE DUTIES OF MAN AND OTHER ESSAYS is Mazzini's passionate viewpoint on the political inevitability of The French Revolution of 1789 as well as giving the Italian "workingman" a taste of his revolutionary political ideology on the fundamental rights of individual conscience. GIUSEPPE MAZZINI, 1805-1872, was an Italian nationalist and patriot, who, together with Giuseppe Garibaldi, Camillo Benso di Cavour, and Victor Emmanuel II, is considered one of the "patron saints" of the Italian Risorgimento. He committed himself passionately to the cause of Italian independence and unity, and as a result, was forced into exile in 1831 for his revolutionary activities. His association, Giovine Italia (Young Italy), founded in the 1830s, attracted adherents throughout the country and among Italian political exiles everywhere. No other Italian Risorgimento leader (with the exception of Giuseppe Garibaldi) enjoyed greater international renown in his time for his revolutionary vision of Italian national unity.