The Italian Story

3,000 years of Italy.

Over one and a half million people visit Italy every year from Great Britain alone, many to see the countless treasures of her past. But only a few have had the time or chance to study this past in detail, and the majority must often have felt the need for a simple overall guide to Italian history — whether in their reading, in their appreciation of art and music, or in their enjoyment of an Italian holiday.

Treating of the whole gamut of Italian experience from Etruscan and Roman times to the present day, Mr Trease writes with enthusiasm and a fine eye for compression. The ancient world; the Dark Ages; the Renaissance; French, Spanish and Austrian domination; Risorgimento; the rise and fall of Mussolini — The Italian Story is an absorbing ‘serial’ covering 3000 years, in which Mr Trease has used his skill as a novelist to give full value to colourful characters and dramatic incidents, without losing sight of social and economic factors or the main political outlines.

The result is a book sound enough for the student and compulsively readable for the layman.