Patrick McCarthy Memorial Series on Intellectuals and Politics

hosted by Professor John L. Harper


A major new account of the emergence of Italian democracy after the Second World War

The rebirth of Italy after the Second World War is one of the most impressive political transformations in modern European history. In 1945, post-fascist Italy was devastated by war, and its reputation in the international arena was nil. Yet by December 1955, when Italy was admitted to the United Nations, the nation had contested three acrimonious but free general elections, had a flourishing press, and was a leader in the rebuilding of Europe.

This is the dramatic story told by Italy Reborn. It charts the descent of Italy into Fascism, the scale of the wartime disaster, the Italian resistance to Nazi occupation, the horrors of civil war, and the establishment of the Republic in 1946. The Cold War divided, in 1947, the coalition of parties that had led the resistance to Fascism and Nazism.

The book's final chapters deal with the consolidation of Italian democracy and with the statesmanship of Alcide De Gasperi, the premier from December 1945 to August 1953. The book persuasively argues that De Gasperi deserves more credit than he has typically been accorded for Italy's postwar democratization and shows how Italian democracy was constructed on a sound foundation-which is why it has been able to survive its many postwar crises.

Largely based on contemporary Italian sources, Italy Reborn is both an original account of this crucial period in Italian history and a remarkable example of how democracies are made.

MARK GILBERT

Professor Mark Gilbert is the C. Grove Haines Professor and Professor of History and International Studies at SAIS Europe. Gilbert was educated (BA hons Politics, 1983) at Durham University and was awarded a PhD in contemporary history by the University of Wales (1990). Before joining SAIS, he was associate professor in contemporary history and international studies at the University of Trento and lecturer in European studies at the University of Bath. He began his academic career as assistant professor of political science at Dickinson College. Gilbert has been Associate Editor of the "Journal of Modern Italian Studies" since 2015. He served as Chair of the 2018 Cundill Prize. He has just published a book entitled Italy Reborn: From Fascism to Democracy (Penguin/Allen Lane, Rizzoli and W.W. Norton, 2024).