The Pursuit of Italy

A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples

By: David Gilmour

Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan

Length: 19 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Did Garibaldi do Italy a disservice when he helped its disparate parts achieve unity? Was the goal of political unification a mistake? These questions are asked and answered in a number of ways in this engaging, original consideration of the many histories that contribute to the brilliance - and weakness - of Italy today.

David Gilmour's exploration of Italian life over the centuries is filled with provocative anecdotes as well as personal observations, and is peopled with the great figures of the Italian past - from Cicero and Virgil to Dante and the Medicis, from Garibaldi and Cavour to the controversial politicians of the 20th century. Gilmour's wise account of the Risorgimento, the pivotal epoch in modern Italian history, debunks the nationalistic myths that surround it, though he paints a sympathetic portrait of Giuseppe Verdi, a beloved hero of the era.

Gilmour shows that the glory of Italy has always lain in its regions, with their distinc­tive art, civic cultures, identities, and cuisines. Italy's inhabitants identified themselves not as Italians but as Tuscans and Venetians, Sicilians and Lombards, Neapolitans and Genoese. Italy's strength and culture still come from its regions rather than from its misconceived, mishandled notion of a unified nation.

©2011 David Gilmour (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Gilmour's compelling look into Italy's past as a way of understanding its present offers a fascinating glimpse of the failures and triumphs of the country." ( Publishers Weekly starred review)

Eye opening

Learned a ton about history geography economics politics architecture music conflicts wars oppression. Italy as well as Normans Spanish Austrians Communists Croatians Yugoslavs. Triumphs as well as setbacks. Things to emulate at the commune level as well as mistakes to avoid at international and national levels. Like being informed before making my 3d or 4th journey through parts of Italy. Helps explain what all those commemorative street names and statues are about.

Ties the pieces together

I wish I'd read or listened to before or while living in Italy. It ties the pieces I'd heard here and there. Really great book

Decent Book. Terrible Narration.

While this is an interesting book on the Risorgimento, the narration is stilted and emphasizes the wrong words, ruins the flow of the writing, and is difficult to stand for more than a bit at a time. Truly a shame.

worth the time.

I wanted a concise review of Italian history (from the Middle Ages forward. This book gave me what i wanted!

A Great Narrative History Beautifully Read

I'll probably listen to it again soon. And buy the print book. Great adds to my understanding and appreciation of that wonderful country.

Good history: Tough Narration

The book itself was a reasonably thorough geopolitical history of Italy and provided a new understanding of what drives the country. While it often digressed into unnecessarily long detailed lists, it did provide insight into the evolution of the country. Foreign language quotes or words were not always translated into English, leaving the reader occassionally ignorant of the meaning. While I overall enjoyed the book, I found the narrator to be distractingly difficult to listen to. He infused every single sentence, right down to the end of book attributions, with overwhelming drama, grandious and pompous. He read with dramatic pauses after a word, a phrase, every 5 or 6 words, having absolutely nothing to do with the meaning or action of what he was reading. I am not sure he was paying any attention at all to the meaning. The book was good enough to put up with the narration.

I love history, but there is always a spin

Basically, I appreciated this book. The narration was great, the history compelling. The missing part, which is so true of many history books, was a lack of insight into the real role and politics of the various secret societies.

Insightful (also delightfully catty)

The author knows a lot and has very specific opinions about Italy. He loves it but sees its flaws too. Listening to this book was like going for long walks with an erudite and funny friend who is an expert on Italian history. I learned about Italian street names, about opera, and the history of Sicily and Venice in particular. The author intermixes relatively dry stuff with gossipy details which I greatly appreciated as they kept my lowbrow interest. The narrator's diction matched the tone of the book and worked well. The only "complaint" is that when I wanted to read more about the many characters in the book, then going from the sounds of their names to the actual spellings was challenging for me. I managed but that's a place where the written format helps.

Not enough translation into English

I do not speak Italian and there are important points made with no translation into English. a whole paragraph would build to a specific moment when a certain political party or expression was made, but it was completely lost on me because it was not in English. I appreciate all the research put into the book and the sweep of history, but it was very difficult to complete and away the intended depth.

Excellent History of Italy

This book was a thorough examination of the history of Italy. It was the book I was looking for to learn about Italy AFTER the ancient Roman Empire, which can be difficult to find in english. I found the book engaging, up to date, and imaginative in it's discussions. I highly recommend it to those that want to understand the country and the people from a modern perspective from it's origins until today.