Paul Ginsborg and the Historiography of Modern Italy Revolutions, Revolt and Resistance

This book brings together a group of British and Italian scholars who have made significant contributions to the historiography of modern Italy over the last three decades, dedicated to the influence of Paul Ginsborg.

“This volume is a terrific tribute to Paul Ginsborg, and to his achievements as a teacher, intellectual and political activist. It reflects on the breadth of Ginsborg’s achievements as a historian of modern Italy as well as his lasting engagement with Italian civil society and politics from the 1960s until his death in 2022. An excellent primer on Italian historical research, the essays in this volume also capture the originality and commitment that characterized Ginsborg’s scholarship”

– Lucy Riall, Professor, European University Institute, Florence

“Paul Ginsborg was a remarkable figure – a distinguished historian of contemporary Italy but also a political activist who, for more than a decade, exercised a considerable influence on the Italian political scene. Prominent for his devastating analyses of Berlusconismo, he was at the same time a consistent thorn in the side of the established Italian Left. As the contributions to this volume demonstrate, Ginsborg had a conception of politics that began at the grassroots of society, emphasising family and community and turning upside-down the conventional relation between people and power. Clear-sighted and compelling, Ginsborg's radical vision remains of vital importance in the confusions of the contemporary world”

– Paul Corner, Emeritus Professor of European History, University of Siena

This book brings together a group of British and Italian scholars who have made significant contributions to the historiography of modern Italy over the last three decades, dedicated to the influence of Paul Ginsborg. Reflecting Ginsborg's interest in the encounter of social and political history in modern Italy, contributions explore the varied forms taken by activism in civil society. Rather than just treating activism and engagement as limited, circumscribed phenomena within a political system, the essays consider these as interventions in the social. Taken together, the contributions gathered here highlight Ginsborg's contributions to scholarship and activism, as well as advancing our understanding of cultural change, institutional reform and the renewal of community in modern Italian history.

John Foot is Professor of Modern Italian History in the Department of Italian, University of Bristol, UK.

Stephen Gundle is Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick, UK.

This book brings together a group of British and Italian scholars who have made significant contributions to the historiography of modern Italy over the last three decades, dedicated to the influence of Paul Ginsborg. Reflecting Ginsborg's interest in the encounter of social and political history in modern Italy, contributions explore the varied forms taken by activism in civil society. Rather than just treating activism and engagement as limited, circumscribed phenomena within a political system, the essays consider these as interventions in the social. Taken together, the contributions gathered here highlight Ginsborg's contributions to scholarship and activism, as well as advancing our understanding of cultural change, institutional reform and the renewal of community in modern Italian history.