The making of Italy, 1796-1870

Denis Mack Smith is the foremost English historian of modern Italy.

In this volume, he collected, translated, introduced and commented upon key documents about Italian history, from the Napoleonic period through the risorgimento to the unification of Italy in the wake of her participation in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War.

This is a model for the presentation of documentary evidence and commentary. I recall studying the unification of Italy as a subject many years ago: a text like this would have been ideal to move beyond the factual basis towards engagement with key source materials. Smith's commentaries are exemplary in calling attention to the issues without necessarily pointing the student too directly towards conclusions.