The Hunchback's Tailor Giovanni Giolitti and Liberal Italy from the Challenge of Mass Politics to the Rise of Fascism, 1882-1922

Subjects:

• History » European History -- Modern/20th Century
• Political Science » Political History

Reviews:

• Skillfully organized into neat and tight segments with descriptive headings, this study expertly explains and explores the full range of Giolitti's political career, concluding with a last, lonely speech in defense of representative government in a chamber dominated by fascists.
  —Choice
• The close focus of De Grand's study, and his meticulous account of the political machinations of Giolittian Italy, ensure that his book is and will remain a crucial work of reference.
  —American Historical Review February 2003
• An Anglo-American audience will find in De Grand's biography a great resource on one of the outstanding statesmen of fin de sie'cle Europe. Well written and cogently argued, his book offers a balanced account of the dominant personality behind the political and administrative apparatus of the liberal state. It integrates new primary documentation- personal papers and records on the banking scandal, for the most part- with the standard liberal scholarship on Giolitti available only in Italian.
  —Journal of Modern History December 2002
• ...Professor De Grand has once again produced a thoroughly researched monograph which clearly explains the political context in which Giolitti and all other politicians operated. In that sense the author has provided a balanced and judicious account of the political career of one of Italy's greatest parlimentarians which will be welcomed by all scholars and students of modern Italian history.
  —Canadian Journal of History August 2002
• Fragmented parties, patronage, and powerful personalities persist in Italian political life making De Grand's dessection of the Giolittian system oddly relevant to the present.
  —The Historian vol 65 no 1

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• The Apprenticeship of a Statesman, 1842-1892
• A Disastrous Beginning: The Presidency of the Council of Ministers, 1892-93
• Into the Wilderness: in Opposition, 1894-1901
• The Zanardelli-Giolotti Government, 1901-1903
• Giolitti's Second Ministry, "Doing it Right," 1904-1905
• The Long Ministry, 1906-1909
• Domestic Reform and War, 1910-1914
• A Second Political Exile, 1914-1920
• Giolitti and the Crisis of the Liberal State, 1920-1928
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index