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Books by Joshua Arthurs

This book explores the complex ways in which people lived and worked within the confines of Benit... more This book explores the complex ways in which people lived and worked within the confines of Benito Mussolini’s regime in Italy, variously embracing, appropriating, accommodating and avoiding the regime’s incursions into everyday life. The contributions highlight the experiences of ordinary Italians – midwives and schoolchildren, colonists and soldiers – over the course of the Fascist era, in settings ranging from the street to the farm, and from the kitchen to the police station. At the same time, this volume also provides a framework for understanding the Italian experience in relation to other totalitarian dictatorships in twentieth-century Europe and beyond.

Italian Fascism's appropriation of the Roman past—the idea of Rome, or romanità—remains one of th... more Italian Fascism's appropriation of the Roman past—the idea of Rome, or romanità—remains one of the most enduring facets of Mussolini's regime. Excavating Modernity offers a critical assessment of romanità and the individuals, institutions, and initiatives through which it was promulgated.

Articles and Book Chapters by Joshua Arthurs

The Politics of Everyday Life in Fascist Italy, 2017

Modern Italy

This article compares two recent memory controversies in the United States and Italy – the remova... more This article compares two recent memory controversies in the United States and Italy – the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia and the Legge Fiano, the abortive ban on Fascist propaganda proposed by Emanuele Fiano and the Partito Democratico – in order to identify a common set of challenges now confronting liberal democracies on both sides of the Atlantic. While acknowledging the longue durée of memory politics surrounding the Confederacy and Fascism respectively, the article argues that disputes over their monuments and symbols must also be situated in terms of contemporary debates over national identity, race, populism, citizenship and speech.

Brill’s Companion to the Classics, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany

The fall of Mussolini on 25 July 1943, and the concomitant collapse of the Fascist regime, have l... more The fall of Mussolini on 25 July 1943, and the concomitant collapse of the Fascist regime, have long been recognized as a pivotal moment in the Second World War and, indeed, contemporary Italian history. To date, however, these events have been viewed almost exclusively ‘from above’, in terms of elite politics, international diplomacy, and military strategy. Drawing on the analytical frameworks of Alltagsgeschichte (‘everyday history’), the present contribution examines the experiences, reactions and behaviors of ordinary Italians during the fall of Fascism. In particular, it explores incidents of retributive and symbolic violence, political denunciation, and popular demonstration, in order to understand how individuals and communities expressed emotions and memories, negotiated relationships, and sought to redress grievances and antipathies developed over more than twenty years of ‘totalitarian’ dictatorship.

Journal of Modern European History, 2015

Annali d'Italianistica, 2010

Italy Today: The Sick Man of Europe, 2010

Un paese normale? Saggi sull’Italia contemporanea, 2011

Nationalism, Historiography and the (Re)Construction of the Pas

News by Joshua Arthurs

PRESENTAZIONE DEL LIBRO martedì 10 Ottobre, ore 17.00 presso la Sala Conferenze della Bibliote... more PRESENTAZIONE DEL LIBRO

martedì 10 Ottobre, ore 17.00 presso la Sala Conferenze della Biblioteca delle Oblate, via dell’Oriuolo 24, Firenze.

Interventi di Gabriella Gribaudi (Università di Napoli),
Marco Palla (Università di Firenze),
Monica Galfrè (Università di Firenze).

Book Reviews by Joshua Arthurs

International Journal of the Classical Tradition

Journal of Contemporary History, 2014

World War the Polish authorities refused to rebuild the city on the basis of the prewar ‘German’ ... more World War the Polish authorities refused to rebuild the city on the basis of the prewar ‘German’ maps. Similarly, they were contemptuous of the Baroque architectural style, due to its traditional imperial and Catholic connotations (123–4). Susanne Jaeger and Tania Vladova address the legacies of the communist period. Jaeger examines the use of the Buchenwald memorial complex, which highlighted the role of the communist resistance as ameans to legitimize the East German regime (78–9), whereas Vladova discusses the fate of the mausoleum of Georgii Dimitrov in Sofia. Designed to convey historical meaning, after the fall of communism these sites have become major tourist attractions, partially due to the profound chasm between the messages they were intended to convey and the crisis of the communist ideals. Vladova’s essay also raises the important question of whether the obliteration of communist symbols is sufficient for erasing the entire era from popular memory. Fittingly, in the closing chapter Riitta Oittinen offers a fascinating analysis of the impacts of the controversial exhibition The Image of Europe. Opened in 2004 in Brussels, it was to impart European history as an emerging construct of common identity, but the exhibition’s montage made it difficult for the audience to differentiate between facts and fiction, rendering wide latitude to individual interpretational capacities (181). As a result, numerous official and popular complaints and criticisms of ‘unfair’ representations of national histories clearly revealed that common European heritage remains a highly ambiguous concept. Limited space does not allow for justice to be done to this rich collection, which as a whole offers a multifaceted approach to the relevance of history, culture and national identity. The volume’s geographical scope is actually greater than the title suggests (Georgios Karatzas offers an interesting essay on Greece) and it is certainly to the authors’ credit that they have situated these issues in a wider context, accentuating the role of historical heritage as the crucial logo of inextricable connection between the past and present. To this effect, they demonstrated how literature, art and architecture have been utilized to glorify one nation’s past and to downplay or erase that of the others. Matthew Rampley has thus compiled a well-researched and stimulating book, which would be of particular interest to scholars and students, who would use it as an innovative source for the studies of culture, nationalism and statebuilding.

Journal of Contemporary History, Jan 15, 2013

The American Historical Review, Dec 1, 2014

The Journal of Modern History, 2016

University of Toronto Quarterly

two very different moods are bridged by the phrase ‘‘so amiable that she dripped with charm’’ (ta... more two very different moods are bridged by the phrase ‘‘so amiable that she dripped with charm’’ (tanto gentile che cascava di vezzi). The choice of ‘‘amiable’’ to translate the ineffable ‘‘gentile’’ is a difficult one; however, ‘‘dripped with charm’’ somehow misses the mark. ‘‘Overflowed with charms’’ might have been a better rendering of ‘‘cascava,’’ recalling a ‘‘cascata’’ or waterfall. This is intended only as a demonstration of the vast complexities facing a translator of fifteenth-century Florentine prose; overall Baca’s translation is superb. Unfortunately, a fresh bibliographic essay is needed to bring three decades of scholarship up to date, and a broader thematic index (rather than merely an index of names) might have been included. Cesare De Michelis’s essay, ‘‘A Portrait of Vittore Branca,’’ is illuminating and touching; however, facsimile reproductions of a few manuscript pages to which Branca dedicated his studies would have been equally welcome. Despite these editorial oversights, this volume will appeal not only to the ‘‘widely read . . . highly intelligent and curious’’ ideal reader envisioned by the translator and editors of this volume, but it will be an invaluable source for the teaching of undergraduate as well as graduate students.