Garibaldi

The first sustained analysis of the cult of the legendary Italian hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian revolutionary leader and popular hero, was among the best-known figures of the nineteenth century. This book seeks to examine his life and the making of his cult, to assess its impact, and understand its surprising success. For thirty years Garibaldi was involved in every combative event in Italy. His greatest moment came in 1860, when he defended a revolution in Sicily and provoked the collapse of the Bourbon monarchy, the overthrow of papal power in central Italy, and the creation of the Italian nation state. It made him a global icon, representing strength, bravery, manliness, saintliness, and a spirit of adventure. Handsome, flamboyant, and sexually attractive, he was worshiped in life and became a cult figure after his death in 1882. Lucy Riall shows that the emerging cult of Garibaldi was initially conceived by revolutionaries intent on overthrowing the status quo, that it was also the result of a collaborative effort involving writers, artists, actors, and publishers, and that it became genuinely and enduringly popular among a broad public. The book demonstrates that Garibaldi played an integral part in fashioning and promoting himself as a new kind of “charismatic” political hero. It analyzes the way the Garibaldi myth has been harnessed both to legitimize and to challenge national political structures. And it identifies elements of Garibaldi’s political style appropriated by political leaders around the world, including Mussolini and Che Guevara.

"'Lucy Riall gives us a book which is about rather more than myriad fantasies projected onto the most famous of Italy's nation-builders, a work with inevitable resonances for our own age of celebrity chasing and willing enslavement to the media. Her historical argument is made more compelling by a lucid, athletic and continuously engaging prose style... among my books of the year.' Jonathan Keates, Literary Review 'Lucy Riall's absorbing and scholarly new book.' David Gilmour, The Spectator 'Riall is to be congratulated on her narrative verve.' Ian Thompson, The Sunday Times 'a compelling read, full of fascinating and hilarious new material.' Adam Zamoyski, The Sunday Telegraph 'a brilliantly conceived and executed study.' John Dickie, The Daily Telegraph"

Lucy Riall is professor of modern European history at Birkbeck College, University of London. Her publications include The Italian Risorgimento: State, Society and National Unification and Sicily and the Unification of Italy: Liberal Policy and Local Power (1859-66).