David Gilmour (2)Rezensionen

An interesting, though rather revisionist, history of Italy from the earliest days up to around 2010. The author sets out specifically to explain Italy in terms of its regions, its peoples, and the political divisions that these have caused all the way through history.

Our present thinking about politics, in terms of the almost automatic acceptance of the concept of the nation-state, conditions us - especially in Britain - to see the unification of Italy in 1861 as the high-point of Italian history, the thing everything else was leading up to. Gilmour's thesis is rather different; Italian unity was the result of a particular power-grab by Piedmontese politicians, and there remain great divides in Italian life and politics today because of it. Attempts to build national identity in the years following the Risorgimento resulted in the growth of belligerence in the years running up to the First World War; and following it, to the rise of Fascism. Gilmour also shows the rise of Communism in Italy in the post-war era as an attempt to rehabilitate the country that would not otherwise have been achieved because of the nation's change of direction with the ousting of Mussolini.

Many feel that this book is too critical, though I find the idea that Italy is a land of regional cultures and the civilisation primarily of cities on a human scale quite appealing. Gilmour also does not neglect the culture of Italy and its achievements in the arts, although near the end he does divert into a detailed discussion of Bertolucci's film Novecento which takes over the book for more than two whole pages, far more than is devoted to any other single work. That discussion is also more than a little biased - perhaps the one point in the whole book where I found the author's own biases showing.

Critical blurbs on the cover of my edition talked at length about the author's "witty" writing. I wondered when this was going to start; but as the story progresses from medieval times into more contemporary ones, the wit quotient increases, probably because we have access to more contemporary accounts of the players, not only their deeds but their personalities.

Also, Gilmour deserves a demerit for levelling accusations against Italian railways for being slow and employing old engines and rolling stock, when the first high-speed line opened in 1977 between Milan and Turin and similar lines have been developed as an ongoing project.

So: a useful book as long as it doesn't step too hard on your preconceptions.

This is a great book on Italy. I think it is worth reading by Italians themselves too. A historical book as it should be. It is a very balanced account of country’s history and a very fair assessment of its key figures and events. Nor is his book a collection of iconoclastic provocations. You see real people, not lacquered and embellished saints or demonized beastly villains. He calls events and processes precisely by their correct names and not just recites glorious titles. A certain character could be a hero though, but that doesn’t necessarily imply you should worship him or that he lived a flawless life of conviction. It’s not a typical book of fables fed to adult kids, it’s a serious conversation that invites you to think. I wish the author wrote similar books on histories of other controversial states like mine (Russia), where so much glazing was put on so many historical figures that they actually sainted XVIII century admiral Feodor Ushakov as recently as in 2000s, never mind his actual temporal achievements. Especially poignant are his chapters on Risorgimento and Mussolini years. You’ll see how trivial skirmishes and untalented commanders are raised on marble pedestals and positioned in the central places of cities and kids’ textbooks.

It was never easy to go against the grain as this excerpt below shows:

“Italian soldiers used to enjoy the reputation of being brava gente, good fellows, ‘the good soldier Gino’ who remained good even in uniform. Italians claimed they were not like the nazis. Nor were their generals, whose decency is supposed to have been certified later by the fact that none of them faced a trial like the leading nazis at Nuremberg. Yet in recent decades an Italian historian, Angelo del Boca, has gone through the colonial records and painstakingly compiled, in volume after volume, evidence that the generals committed horrific atrocities in Africa and later the Balkans and that ‘the good soldier Gino’ is a myth: the brava gente were as adept at massacring as anyone else. The Italian army reacted by trying to have Del Boca prosecuted for ‘vilifying the Italian soldier’.”

- but I am sure you and me are grown ups enough to decide for ourselves what to make out of competing historical narrations, rather than uncritically bow to Legend, created with many different intentions, not all of which were benign.

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An accomplished and heartfelt account of the people who ran the British Raj in India during the 19th and 20th centuries. It portrays how the original martial approach gradually gave way to a more reformist administrative system that strove to provide modern institutions and services to the masses in the sub-continent. Perhaps the most moving chapters are those that describe the loneliness of the colonial officers, especially those working in isolated posts in the districts, and the travails of life threatening diseases, separation from wife and children for long periods, and the difficulties of adjusting to a humdrum middle class existence back in the UK after retirement. First published in 2005, this was later followed by the author's "The British in India" (2018), a more detailed account.

A massive book, over 500 pages of body text in small print, and another 100 pages of notes and references, it tells the personal stories of a number of British administrators, soldiers, professionals, missionaries, adventurers, writers and travellers, and others in the Indian subcontinent. Through their stories, one gets a glimpse into the complex and variegated motivations and ideas of these persons, their different ways of relating to a new culture and people, and how all this has contributed to the state of the subcontinent today. Perhaps the most poignant are the stories of those who came to see this land as their own home, and the dilemmas of those left stranded between two worlds as empire gave way to the era of independence. A huge and absorbing tale (which has taken me a correspondingly substantial time to get through!), ably recounted by one of the best writers of the genre.

David Gilmour in painstaking detail and readable prose presents the social history of the Raj in India. He befitting an historian without prejudice describes a range of Biritsh bureaucrats, military personnel of all ranks, mensahibs and civilians who stamped for two milennial the infrastructure of Colonial India under the British Empire. His narrative is extensive but not witout humor. I enjoyed the book which offered a balanced view of Britain’s contributions as we look at India now as another Asian economic power.

For me this was the perfect answer to a lifelong quest to understand the land of my grandparents. It is not a linear, scholarly history, which is what makes it so worthwhile. David Gilmour demonstrates a thorough understanding of how today's Italy came to be, both the good and bad. He manages to weave together the people, the politics, the culture...highly recommended if you want that same understanding.

A detailed life of Curzon, who was also Viceroy of India for seven years around the turn of the century. Despite his brilliant mind, his hard-working and self-denying nature, his sense of loyalty and strong values, and his early travels in Asia, Curzon was seen as self-opinionated and vain. The author shows that this was not the reality, but also does not try to gloss over his shortcomings, which included an impatience for lesser intellects, and a strong sense that he himself always knew best. By resigning from his viceroy's post, he set back his own career, and had to be satisfied with the Foreign Affairs charge toward the end of his career, instead of becoming Prime Minister in Britain (as he felt was his due). A well-written, fast-paced, absorbing, almost day-by-day, account of the successes and travails of one of the greatest of British statesmen and Viceroys.

What a pessimistic book.

Excellent book. My father was an International Brigader but he never talked to the family about his experiences and I've never really had more than an outline grasp of the political situation. We also never went to Spain while Franco was alive and it was only recently that I spent my first few days in Spain, in Madrid. This book came just after that and begins to give me a feeling for how special Spain is among the European countries.

A panoramic social history of all those who called India home during the age of Empire, lasting 300 years - their motivations for going and experiences while there, covering every aspect of their varied lives - a truly staggering work of research, then marshalling the facts to conjure a whole series of vivid and revealing sketches and anecdotes. David Gilmour does not seek to make judgements about the rights and wrongs of Britain's involvement in India - the facts are presented and readers can reach their own conclusions.½

While the author does paint the Italian nation with a somewhat jaundiced eye, I feel that his point of view is very fair. Having lived and worked in Italy on and off during a period of about 13 years, I had not really understood why this beautiful country does not work as a nation until I had read this book. For me the revelatory chapters were those that told the real story of the Risorgimento; how the unification of Italy was not motivated by some national dream, like other 19th century nationalist movements, but was just an opportunistic land grab by the the thuggish Savoy monarchy. This is a book that everyone that loves - and maybe thinks that they know - Italy, should read.

I'm surprised at the negative reviews at this site. Some readers may have expected more cultural history, but the book is overwhelmingly a political and military history. I purchased it for exactly that reason. Cultural histories of Italy are easily available; what is far more difficult to find is a single-volume account of Italian nationhood which gives, at the same time, sensitivity to its regions. The account is nevertheless a negative one. The author is eager to debunk the many monuments, street names, and anniversaries that visitors to Italy encounter. When the author is finished, there are few heroes to celebrate.

A waste of money and time½

Excellent book. My father was an International Brigader but he never talked to the family about his experiences and I've never really had more than an outline grasp of the political situation. We also never went to Spain while Franco was alive and it was only recently that I spent my first few days in Spain, in Madrid. This book came just after that and begins to give me a feeling for how special Spain is among the European countries.

George Nathanial Curzon, the Most Honorable 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, was indeed a very interesting fellow. He was the oldest son of Alfred Curzon, 4th Baron Scarsdale, and educated at Eton and Balliol. While his father considered it a waste of time, he ventured off the homestead and explored Russia and most of Central and Southeast Asia. His explorations of the Amu Darya (Oxus River) granted him admission into the Royal Geographic Society. His travels and extensive knowledge of the geography and politics of India led to his appointment as Viceroy of India in 1899. Even with his aristocratic upbringing, he strived to earn the loyalty and respect of his subjects, and even took efforts to ensure a proper restoration of the Taj Mahal. After returning to England, he became the Chancellor of Oxford, sat in the House of Lords, and became Foreign Secretary. Unfortunately, he was passed over for the post of Prime Minister in 1923 and died just a few years later.

Gilmour’s writing is stiff at first but ultimately smoothes out. This book is as impressive as it is long. While Curzon is not a well known British figure in the United States, Great Britain and India celebrate his legacy and it was nice to get a glimpse of India under colonial rule. Curzon could have been a better Prime Minister than Stanley Baldwin, but the politics of the day were stacked against members of the House of Lords. In the end, he was a intriguing part of the intertwined history of Great Britain and India. Gilmour’s biography is, for the most part, balanced and sourced well. He defers greatly to others who have approached the subject before him, but thankfully had access to more complete resources and the advantage of a wider historical lens. A daunting but very interesting read.

Excellent telling of the unusual path to statehood taken by (some of) the Italians. Why Italy is the way it is.

Read 2011. Good study of life in India during the peak of Imperial power, drawing back a veil on an era of high pomp. Full of good personal anecdote.

A very substantial and definitive biography of one of Britain's most distinctive politicians of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Curzon was a tremendous traveller and scholar of other lands, and architecture, and this informed his approach to his Viceroyalty of India. His subsequent political career in Britain had highs but was also full of disappointments. Gilmour (son of a Conservative politician himself) puts all this into a well-written context but keeps the story moving well. The approach is sympathetic to its subject but never hagiographic.The deep scholarship behind the book is real but never intrusive. Really a model of its kind.

I get the feeling there's probably a better summary of Italian history. One of the problems I found is that Gilmour spends too much time on things like film analysis that don't deserve it. He should've spent at least twenty more pages on Medieval Italy. Another big flaw is that, since this is clearly intended as an introduction of sorts, there isn't a nice time-line near the beginning. I have this as an ebook (kindle), however, and so I was inclined to quickly pass through the crap-looking appendix.½

Boeken over de geschiedenis van Italië verwijzen nog steeds naar de uitspraak van de Oostenrijkse prins von Metternich als zij Italië niet meer dan "une expression géographique". Gilmour volgt het schiereiland van de oudheid tot in de 21e eeuw, en wil met dit boek vooral focussen op de centrifugale krachten binnen het Italiaanse schiereiland. De, vergeleken met andere landen, late eenwording en de moeilijkheden van het land om een eenheid te vormen, lijken niet zo maar een ongelukje van de geschiedenis maar veeleer het gevolg van zijn verleden en geografie. Traditionele geschiedschrijving presenteert nochtans graag het plaatje van een voortbestemde eenwording van Italië met alle mythevorming en heldenverering die dit met zich neigt mee te brengen. Maar Gilmour argumenteert dat er veeleer sprake was van een uitbreiding van het oude koninkrijk Piedmont-Sardinië en dat de Italiaanse unifcatie eerder een Piedmontisatie was dan dat er een nieuw koninkrijk Italië werd gecreëerd. Nergens stond de bevolking te wachten om de zogezegde bevrijders te verwelkomen. Dat Italië toch één werd, lijkt er te zijn gekomen ondanks een ongeïnteresseerd Piedmontees koningshuis, en ondanks diens onbekwame generaals die enkel in hun standbeelden groots bleken. Gilmour hangt een vrij cynisch beeld op van het Risorgimento met slechts één echte held, Garibaldi, die echter veelal misprijsd en soms ronduit werd tegengewerkt door koning en premier. De nieuwe Italiaanse staat herbergde in 1860 meer verschillen dan gelijkenissen tussen zijn regio's en bevolkingen. Italië was wel gemaakt maar men moest nog beginnen met Italianen te maken. Gilmour citeert in deze Niccolazzi die stelde dat Italië begon als een staat zonder een taal, maar intussen verworden is tot een taal zonder staat. Italië is wel een "patria" maar nog geen "nazione". Maar juist dat leven in meervoud, die juxtapositie van regio's met elk zijn eigen geschiedenis, tradities en keuken, maakt het voor mij een land (of is het dan toch eerder een idee?) om van te houden.½

An opinionated history of Italy. The setup (why Italy is more a geographic than political construct) is engaging, but the summary history of Italy which follows does not fully execute on the promise of the setup.

a bit canned history, no depth

Intentar escribir una historia de Italia desde los etruscos hasta Berlusconi es una empresa de la que David Gilmour sale con un sorprendente éxito. Teñida por la duda de si Italia debería haber sido alguna vez un estado (y con simpatías evidentes hacia estados desaparecidos como Venecia o el Reino de Nápoles), Gilmour recorre con buen humor más de veinte siglos, para terminar con una visión más bien pesimista de la Italia de comienzos del siglo XXI.

After many months of reading nothing but airy-fairy novels. I thought it was high time to get stuck into some serious history again. "Imperial Lives" is a mixed bag, however.

On the plus side, It would be an excellent resource for researchers trying to find out more about the day-to-day lives of the British civil servants who ran India in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I really enjoyed the level of detail and the copious use of anecdotes, which displayed an impressive breadth of research into diaries and memoirs (though the general reader would likely find such minutiae to be tedious).

Overall, however, the book's lack of analytical argument and its hagiographic tone leads me to dismiss it as a bunch of conservative nostalgia for the glory days of the British Empire. The author is not an academic historian, and it shows - he makes no attempt whatsoever to view the men of the Indian Civil Service through a postcolonial lens, and no voice is ever given in the book to the vast multitudes of Indians who found themselves ruled by these men. How are we to take seriously statements such as: "Civilians may have been racially aloof and even dismissive, but they were not racist in the sense that they considered racial difference to be permanent and innate....Their prejudices had little to do with race of the colour of skin. They were expressions of a self-confidence that may have been unattractive but was perhaps not unnatural in citizens of a prosperous country with a large empire and a long and relatively peaceful history of political development". I'm still trying to figure out how someone could be "racially aloof" and "dismissive", yet not also racist.

Along with Indians themselves, women get similarly short shrift in this book, with the wives of Civilians mentioned largely in passing, and being described in more detail only at the very end of the book, in a very slim chapter (which, curiously, makes no reference at all to Margaret MacMillan's book "Women of the Raj" - the definitive work on the "memsahibs"). The author even trots out the tired old cliche that "it was the women who lost us the Empire". There are many historians of women and Empire whose excellent work would surely have persuaded the author otherwise, had he bothered to read it.

In summation - while the research and level of detail is impressive, this book comes across as an uncritical, celebratory (and some might say racist) account of a group of professional men whom the author decided to rescue from historical obscurity. Its conservative interpretation leaves a great deal to be desired - surely we don't need more books about dead white men and their career exploits in far-flung lands?