The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples
Praise ForThe Pursuit Of Italy“Amazingly compendious . . . The best one-volume history of Italy now available . . . [The Pursuit of Italy] has the same tonic, exhilarating impact as the thigh-slapping overture to a Verdi opera.” —Jonathan Keates,The Literary Review“[The Pursuit of Italyhas] a freshness and readability often lacking in more laborious histories, an attractiveness reinforced by the quality of the writing, which is versatile and vivid and frequently witty, able to encompass both densely factual material and complicated narrative without loss of clarity or elegance . . . Compelling to read and highly informative . . . Brilliantly accomplished.” —Barry Unsworth,The Spectator“Lucid and elegant, clever and provocative . . . Tracing Italy’s history from Romulus and Remus to the misdemeanours of Silvio Berlusconi, Gilmour develops his thesis with wit, style, and a great deal of learning.” —Dominic Sandbrook,The Sunday Times(London)“[A] well-researched and engaging canter through the peninsula’s history.” —Peter Popham,The Independent“[Gilmour is] a witty guide with an elegant prose style and a mind delightfully furnished with anec­dotes and dictums, sensual impressions and conversations . . . [His] prose smells not of the archive but of a convivial meal eaten beneath a pergola in the Pisan hills.” —Lucy Hughes-Hallett,The Daily Telegraph“Gilmour’s elegantly written book . . . is full of impressive insights . . . A stimulating, up-to-date and reliable guide to modern Italian history.” —Tony Barber,Financial Times“In this superb history of Italy and the Italian people, Gilmour celebrates a nation of bewilderingly mixed bloods and ethnicities . . .The Pursuit of Italyoffers an enduring tribute to a various and wonderful people.” —Ian Thomson,Evening Standard