Table of Contents

Part 1 Party propaganda and political discourse: Italian modernization and the propaganda of the Marshall Plan, David W. Ellwood; government propaganda - official newsreels and documentaries in the 1950s, Maria Adelaide Frabotta; Italian propaganda abroad - the case of the surrogate "voice of Italians" in post-war Britain, Lucio Sponza; the Italian Communist Party in propaganda films of the early post-war period, Mino Argentieri; political identity and communication, Jeff C. Pratt; political rituals, David I. Kertzer; the political press, Mario Isnenghi; picture battles in the "Piazza" - the political poster from 1945 to 1996, Luciano Cheles; advertising politics on TV - the party election broadcast, Isabella Pezzini; the languages of politics -from "politichese" to the "discourse of serenity", Patrick McCarthy. Part 2 Persuasion through symbolism and spectacle: meetings of desire, Umberto Eco; persuasion by violence - terror and its texts, David Moss; the last laugh - "cuore" and the vicissitudes of satire, Robert Lumley; the centre cannot hold -music as political communication on post-war Italy, Alessandro Portelli; dress, politics and fashion, 1960-1980, Cristina Giorgetti; fashion and political communication, from the 1980s to the present, Maria Pia Pozzato; ritual degradation as a public display - a televized corruption trial, Pier Paolo Giglioli.