In an age of rapid transformations such as ours, the need to retrace not only the contingent reasons of these changes, but also the deeper roots, becomes imperious. The years between the end of the Eighteenth century and the beginning of the Nineteenth mark the beginning of a very different historical period for Italy. From that date the whole of Italy is forced to come to terms with the issues of modernity, among which the idea of nation, political unity and economical development are paramount.
This volume contains the synthesis of a work produced by some of the greatest experts of the new generation of historians, who have radically changed our knowledge of the History of Italy, starting from the way it was united. In six chronologically divided volumes - from the early Nineteenth century to date - these volumes provide an original reading of the Italian historical events, outside the old ideological frame. With clarity of language and the systematic dealing of the subject, politics, economy, social phenomena and cultural life are analysed. The thoroughness of the information and the wealth of technical aids (bibliography, statistic tables, chronologies and indexes) make this History of Italy also a useful reference text.
In the years between 1887 and 1914 - the years of the Crispi government, the end of the century crisis, the liberalist turn under Giolitti and the Industrial development, up to the first warnings of the Great War - the institutions are greatly transformed. The rise of new political powers (such as the Socialist Party), the increase of the social conflict, the growing international competition and the economic development lead the Unified State to take up new duties and to create a new organisation to face the needs of a mass society. This volume analyses not only the economic and political aspects, but also the social behaviours, the life style of the middle classes, the intellectuals.