An extraordinary series of murders and political assassinations has marked contemporary Italian history, from the killing of the king in 1900 to the assassination of former prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978. This book explores well-known and lesser-known assassinations and murders in their historical, political and cultural contexts.

"Adeft and intellectually wide-ranging marshalling of historical, journalistic, legislative and judicial, cinematic, and literary materials read as both primary and secondary sources, and woven together to produce convincing reconstructions of 'the linkages between public events, and the publicity they receive, and the broader changes that they somehow crystallize or inadvertently reflect.' In contemporary mass society, this is just the kind of complex reading multiple texts and images that creates consensus and the 'true story' of events." - H-Italy

"This collection will prove to be an interesting and useful compendium for Italian undergraduate courses that bear on political culture, history, cultural studies and film. These essays make clear historical connections to both the specific case under analysis and the broader context of the complex dynamics of political forces and alliances at a given time. They bring important attention to how past crimes such as the case of the Cervi brothers or of Carlo and Nello Rosselli have been received and reinterpreted at different times. Indeed, through the dynamics of murder cases, this book highlights how such violent acts always occurred in periods of great political, cultural and social transformation in Italian society." - Eugenia Paulicelli, Queens College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York

"The volume aims to explore some of the most famous cases of murder and analyze them comparatively intheir historical, cultural, and political contexts. Arguing that often unresolved cases of murder of assassination have both marked key moments in modern Italian history and served as primary sites for the construction and contestation of historical memory, the pieces do, indeed, provide a cumulative sense that Italy has a unique relationship to the crime mystery." - Molly Tambor, H-Italy

Autorentext
STEPHEN GUNDLE is Professor of Italian Cultural History at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.

LUCIA RINALDI completed her PhD dissertation at Royal Holloway, University of London on postmodernism and identity in contemporary Italian crime fiction and is a Teaching Fellow in Italian at the University of Exeter, UK.

Inhalt
Re-visiting an Assassination: The Death of Carlo Rosselli; S.Pugliese Fascists and Fetishes: Clara Petacci and the Masochistic Scene; E.Leake What Does It Matter If You Die? The Seven Cervi Brothers; P.Cooke Rosi's Il Caso Mattei: Presenting the Case for Conspiracy; M.Wood The Death of Giuseppe Pinelli. Truth, Representation, Memory: 1969-2006; J.Foot The Genoa G8 and the Death of Carlo Giuliani; D.McDonnell The Moro Affair: Interpretations and Consequences; T.Abse From History to Mystery: The Parliamentary Inquiries into the Kidnapping and Murder of Aldo Moro, 1979-200; D.Moss The Murder of Emanuele Notarbartolo and the Origins of the Mystique of the Mafia; R.Colucello Mafia and Antimafia: Sciascia and Borsellino in Vincenzo Consolo's Lo Spasimo di Palermo; D.O'Connell Chi L'ha Vista? Reflections on the Montesi Case; K.Pinkus Pasolini's Murder: Interpretation, Event- Narratives and Post-Modern Impegno; R.Gordon Making a Killing: The 'Monster of Florence' and the Trial(s) of Piero Pacciani; E.Nerenberg Fashion Victims: the Gucci and Versace Murders; S.Gundle & L.Rinaldi Between True Crime and Fiction: the World of Carlo Lucarelli; G.Pieri The Anarchist Assassin and Italian History, 1870s to 1930s; C.Levy Failed Assassins and Anti-heroes in Wertmuller's Love and Anarchy; D.Renga