Sicily and the unification of Italy
Subtitle: liberal policy and local power, 1859-1866
By: Lucy Riall.
Publisher: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 252
Subjects: Liberalism -- Italy -- History -- 19th century.; Decentralization in government -- Italy -- History -- 19th century.; Sicily (Italy) -- Politics and government -- 1815-1870.; Italy -- Politics and government -- 1849-1870.
Description: "This is the first in-depth analysis of the impact of Italian unification on the hitherto isolated communities of rural Sicily. Traditional explanations of Sicily's instability depict a society trapped by a feudal past. Lucy Riall finds instead that many areas of the island were experiencing a period of rapid modernization, as local government increased their organizational efforts. Beginning with the period prior to the revolution of 1860, Dr. Riall shows why successive attempts at political reform failed, and analyses the effects of this failure. She describes the bitter and violent conflict between rival elites and the mounting tide of peasant unrest which together threatened the status quo within the isolated communities of the Sicilian interior."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [231]-245) and index.