About the Author

The Author: Mario B. Mignone is State University of New York Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of European Languages, Literatures, and Cultures and Founder and Director of the Center for Italian Studies at Stony Brook University. He is published widely in journals and is editor of Forum Italicum. Dr. Mignone is the author of Il teatro di Eduardo De Filippo: critica sociale, Anormalita e angoscia nella narrativa di Dino Buzzati, Eduardo De Filippo, and Italy Today: At the Crossroads of the New Millennium, and the editor of Pirandello in America, Columbus Meeting of Cultures, and co-editor of Homage to Moravia.

Reviews

"Mignone's work is a serious and documented panorama of Italy since World War II that is both informative and challenging. It unravels the most complex historical and social problems by approaching them from more than one direction and by using lucid and balanced judgment." (Sebastiano Martelli, University of Salerno) "Divided into four major sections devoted to an analysis of politics, economics, society, and mass culture, this volume examines a broad range of subjects such as political institutions, parliament, education, trade unions, women, family, the Church, mass culture and provides a fascinating account of Italy's overwhelming need for political reform and the repeated failure to achieve it and how Italy has coped or has failed to cope with the challenges of globalization. Mignone illustrates how the decline of Communism and Catholicism and the surge of immigration are shaping a new national identity for the new millennium. Copiously illustrated and enriched with "profiles" on various Italian institutions and "snap-shots" on aspects of Italian life, this fascinating and authoritative work is essential for anyone interested in modern and contemporary Italian society and its culture." (Marcello Saija, University of Messina) "A framework that courageously builds up the dynamics that gave impetus to the profound transformation of the country. Readers will find it admirable for its mastery of the material and the sobriety of its judgments." (Giuliano Manacorda, University of Rome)