Book Reviews : Italy. By MASSIMO SALVADORI. (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1965. Pp. viii, 184. $4.95 cloth, $1.95 paper.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296601900152
• Date: 01 March 1966
• Author: Sidney Tarrow
• Published date: 01 March 1966
• Subject Matter: Articles

195

Whether

these

would

be

vital

to

its

operation

is

less

clear.

The

points

at

which

change

and

adjustment

would

occur

relate

to

such

established

principles

as

federal-

ism,

the

rule

of

law

and

judicial

review,

ministerial

responsibility,

and

administrative

court

systems,

actual

or

proposed.

With

these

points

the

essays

in

the

last

section

are

all

more

or

less

concerned.

In

sum,

the

volume

opens

a

significant

problem

to

the

view

of

an

English-speak-

ing

audience

and

provides

useful

and

responsible

guidance

to

the

debate

that

seems

likely

to

continue.

FOSTER

H.

SHERWOOD

University

of

California,

Los

Angeles

Italy.

By

MASSIMO

SALVADORI.

(Englewood

Cliffs:

Prentice-Hall,

1965.

Pp.

viii,

184.

$4.95

cloth,

$1.95

paper.)

As

a

highly

readable

survey

of

2,300

years

of

Italian

history,

Massimo

Salva-

dori’s

Italy

is

one

of

the

best

books

of

its

type

to

appear

in

recent

years.

However,

it

is

rather

weak

on

recent

Italian

political

development,

and

is

therefore

less

than

ideal

for

use

in

undergraduate

courses

in

comparative

or

European

politics.

The

book’s

best

point

is

that

all

the

relevant

periods

are

covered

with

the

able

touch

of

a

scholar

who

has

lived,

breathed,

and

taught

Italian

history

for

thirty

years.

It

is

comforting,

for

example,

that

Salvadori

discards

the old

American

platitude

that

today’s

Italians

have

no

connection

with

the

ancient

Romans.

Of

course

they

do

not,

but

there

are

striking

continuities

in

Italy

between

ancient

glory

and

later

periods;

the

influence

of

Roman

law

is

a

dramatic

example

of

a

Roman

institution

which

never

died

through

all

the

dark

years

of

the

Middle

Ages

and

all

the

blinding

ones

of

the

Renaissance.

With

similar

skill,

Salvadori

develops

the

theme

of

the

disintegration

of

Italian

unity

during

the

Middle

Ages

and

the

Renaissance.

Significantly,

he

introduces

the

problem

of

the

&dquo;Two

Italies&dquo;

-

North

and

South

-

very

early

in

the

narrative.

The

point

is

often

lost

on

American

scholars

that

the

manifold

divisions

between

the

two

regions

are

not

a

simple

reflex

of

industrialization,

but

began

long

before

north-

ern

factories

began

selling

inferior

goods

to

southern

peasants.

Salvadori

places

great

weight

on

the

historical

evolution

of

the

Catholic

church,

with

its

many

cultural

and

institutional

legacies

to

secular

life.

Regrettably,

scant

mention

is

made

of

Vatican

politics

during

the

twenty-two

year

period

of

fascism;

during

this

period,

the

Church,

which

Salvadori

more

than

once

praises

as

a

&dquo;demo-

cratic

force,&dquo;

scarcely

distinguished

itself

either

for

democratic

sentiments

or

as

a

force

against

human

suffering.

His

cavalier

treatment

of

this

important

period

of

church-state

relations

is

doubly

regrettable,

for

it

was

during

fascism

that

political

catholicism

gained

the

influence

which

enabled

it

to

emerge

from

World

War

II

as

the

country’s

most

influential

party.

It

is

in

the

fascist

and

postwar

periods

that

Salvadori’s

analysis

really

falls

down.

He

characterizes

Mussolini’s

bizarre

regime

as

an

&dquo;explosive

mixture

of

passionate

nationalism

and

revolutionary

anti-Marxist

socialism.&dquo;

&dquo;When

it

came

to

power,&dquo;

Salvadori

writes,

&dquo;fascism

established

political

institutions

derived

from

the

recent