MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 02294nam a22003018a 4500
001 2009039352
003 DLC
005 20090924141238.0
008 090922s2010 nyu 000 0 eng
010 $a 2009039352
020 $a9780521761017 (hardback)
040 $aDLC$cDLC
043 $ae-it---
050 00 $aDG442$b.P327 2010
082 00 $a945.091$222
100 1 $aPatriarca, Silvana.
245 10 $aItalian vices :$bnation and character from the Risorgimento to the republic /$cSilvana Patriarca.
260 $aNew York :$bCambridge University Press,$c2010.
263 $a1001
300 $ap. cm.
520 $a"Why do Italians believe that they have a national character and that this character is a major reason for their political woes? Why is their self-image so frequently derogatory? In this meticulous new study of the role of national character in Italian political and social discourse, Silvana Patriarca reconstructs the genealogy of a pervasive idea in the culture of modern Italy. Using sources ranging from political pamphlets to newspapers and films, this book shows how self-representations of national character and its vices were shaped by foreign perceptions and stereotypes, internal political struggles, and changing intellectual paradigms. Investigating the politics of these representations, their ideological content, and their uses, the author recasts the study of Italian patriotism and nationalism as discourses and sheds new light on Italian political culture and on the rhetoric of nationalism more generally"--Provided by publisher.
505 8 $aMachine generated contents note: Introduction; 1. Indolence and regeneration; 2. Making Italians of character; 3. Latin individualism in the age of empire; 4. Virtues of war: Italian character 'tested' and 'revealed'; 5. 'A difficult substance to modify'; 6. Autobiographies of the nation; 7. A nation in ruins; 8. 'Italians, that's the way they are'; Conclusion.
650 0 $aNational characteristics, Italian$xHistory.
650 0 $aPolitical culture$zItaly$xHistory.
650 0 $aPolitics and culture$zItaly$xHistory.
650 0 $aNationalism$zItaly$xHistory.
651 0 $aItaly$xPolitics and government$y1870-
856 42 $3Cover image$uhttp://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/61017/cover/9780521761017.jpg