The Force Of Destiny – A History Of Italy Since 1796, Christopher Duggan

Modern Italy was born out of a chaotic, fragmented peninsula in Southern Europe – a birth that, to many Italians, should have lead to the transition from a poor and despised country, admired principally by tourists, to a dominant power in the continent, worthy of its glorious past. The failure of unification to realize these ambitions led to Italy’s highly unstable position in Europe, contributing to both world wars and challenging the international order. Historian Christopher Duggan tells this extraordinary story with vividness and intelligence, interweaving Italy’s art, music, literature and architecture with its social realities and political development, and exposing the difficulties of building a state where nationalism can so easily slip towards authoritarianism and war.