Religion and Politics in the Risorgimento

This book examines Anglo-Italian political and cultural relations and analyses the importance of religion in the British 'Orientalist' perception of Italy. It puts religion at the centre of a harsh political and cultural war, one that was fought on international, diplomatic, and domestic levels.

Raponi's monograph improves our understanding of the British enthusiasm for the Risorgimento by exploring how religion and politics fused together when Italian affairs were on the agenda. Raponi has consulted a very impressive range of sources. The book is beautifully written, Raponi's style being lively and engaging. (Owain Wright, Journal of Religious History Literature and Culture Reviews, June, 2016)

Autorentext
Danilo Raponi is Marie Curie and Gerda Henkel Postdoctoral Fellow in Modern History at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. He has also taught at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and the University of Cambridge, UK, and has held a Visiting Research Fellowship at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy. His work has been published in English and Italian in numerous journals and edited collections.

Inhalt
Introduction: Britain and Italy, Religion and Politics 1. Italy as the 'European India': British Orientalism, Cultural Imperialism, and Anti-Catholicism, c. 1850-1870 2. British Missionary Societies in Italy: Evangelising a Hostile Land, 1850-1862 3. Religion and Foreign Policy: From Unification to the 'Desperate Folly' of the Syllabus (1861-1864) 4. British Missionary Societies in Italy: Searching the Soul of the New Nation, 1862-1872 5. Protestant Foreign Policy and the Last Years of the Roman Question, 1865-1875 Conclusion: 'Great' because Protestant, 'Oriental' because Catholic