«L'Italia conta, e non solo per gli italiani. Tutt'altro che marginale in Europa, la penisola è sempre stata al centro del cambiamento e dell'innovazione politica. Nel bene e nel male – come dicono gli italiani – questo è un paese dal quale abbiamo molto da imparare.»Una storia che si legge d'un fiato, capace di portare alla luce vicende complesse con chiarezza e semplicità. "Sunday Times"Una ricerca superba. "Observer"Un viaggio divertente e mozzafiato (e a tratti ...

The first history of Italian football to be written in English, ‘Calcio’ is a mix of serious analysis and comic storytelling, with vivid descriptions of games, goals, dives, missed penalties, riots and scandals in the richest and toughest league in the world.‘Calcio’ tells the story of Italian football from its origins in the 1890’s to the present day. It takes us through a history of great players and teams, of style, passion and success, but also of violence, cynicism, catenaccio...

Cycling was a sport so important in Italy that it marked a generation, sparked fears of civil war, changed the way Italian was spoken, led to legal reform and even prompted the Pope himself to praise a cyclist, by name, from his balcony in St Peters in Rome. It was a sport so popular that it created the geography of Italy in the minds of her citizens, and some have said that it was cycling, not political change, that united Italy.Pedalare, Pedalare! is the first complete h...

'An enjoyable, highly readable history that manages to bring murky, often fiendishly complex events into the light' Sunday TimesItaly emerged from the Second World War in ruins. Divided, invaded and economically broken, it was a nation that some people claimed had ceased to exist. And yet, as rural society disappeared almost overnight, by the 1960s, it could boast the fastest-growing economy in the world.In The Archipelago, historian John ...

Un altro libro sul fascismo? Sì, ma è un libro diverso da tutti gli altri. Perché lo racconta da un punto di vista spesso tralasciato dalla storiografia: quello delle microstorie. Che in Gli anni neri. Ascesa e caduta del fascismorivelano quello che secondo l'autore, lo storico britannico John Foot, è il tratto costitutivo essenziale del fascismo: la violenza. Paolo Morando, "Domani"Per molto tempo gli storici si sono interrogati sul consenso al regime fascista e hanno dedicato poc...

In 1961, when Franco Basaglia arrived outside the grim walls of the Gorizia asylum, on the Italian border with Yugoslavia, it was a place of horror, a Bedlam for the mentally sick and excluded, redolent of Basaglia's own wartime experience inside a fascist gaol. Patients were frequently restrained for long periods, and therapy was largely a matter of electric and insulin shocks. The corridors stank, and for many of the interned the doors were locked for life. This was a concentration camp,...

The 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France was a down-and-dirty game, marred by French superstar Zidane's head-butting of Italian defender Materazzi. But viewers were also exposed to the poetry, force, and excellence of the Italian game; as operatic as Verdi and as cunning as Machiavelli, it seemed to open a window into the Italian soul. John Foot's epic history shows what makes Italian soccer so unique. Mixing serious analysis and comic storytelling, Foot describes its humble origi...

*A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR*'A compelling and sobering read' JOHN DICKIE, author of Mafia Republic'Taut and gripping' TELEGRAPH, BEST BOOKS OF 2025'Grimly absorbing' FINANCIAL TIMESThe explosive story of the terrorist group who brought Italy to a standstill in the 1970s.In March 1978, the Red Brigades kidnapped for...

'Clear, cool, plainly written and devastating' Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Times Literary SupplementA major history of the rise and fall of Italian fascism: a dark tale of violence, ideals and a country at war.In the aftermath of the First World War, the seeds of fascism were sown in Italy. While the country reeled in shock, a new movement emerged from the chaos: one that preached hatred for politicians and love for the fatherland; one that promised to bu...

“Una bellissima ricerca storiografica” Internazionale Nel 1961 Franco Basaglia assume la direzione del manicomio di Gorizia; nel 1978 la legge 180 decreta la chiusura definitiva dei manicomi in Italia. La battaglia per la riforma radicale dell’assistenza psichiatrica fu innescata dal rifiuto di pochi medici e amministratori locali di avallare gli orrori di una realtà spesso paragonata ai lager nazisti. Dal lavoro concreto per l’umanizzazione di un istituto meramente repressivo nasce una ri...

Bloomsbury presents Blood and Power by John Foot, read by Daniel Philpott.'Clear, cool, plainly written and devastating’ Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Times Literary SupplementA major history of the rise and fall of Italian fascism: a dark tale of violence, ideals and a country at war.In the aftermath of the First World War, the seeds of fascism were sown in Italy. While the country reeled in shock, a new movement emerged from the chaos: one that preached hatred for politici...

Bloomsbury presents The Red Brigades by John Foot, read by Mark Meadows.'A compelling and sobering read' JOHN DICKIE'Deeply researched and powerfully written' ROSS KINGThe explosive story of the terrorist group who brought Italy to a standstill in the 1970s.In March 1978, the Red Brigades kidnapped former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, murdering his bodyguards. Fo...