Spencer M. Di Scala: Professor, Historian, and Author

In January 2009, the Fourth Edition of my book, Italy: From Revolution to Republic, 1700 to the Present (Boulder: Westview Press, 2009) will appear. I updated this edition, including the most wide-ranging annotated bibliography in the field. This edition discusses new themes, such as immigration and its implications, and includes an analysis of the crucial April 2008 elections.

I am currently writing a book on Vittorio Emanele Orlando. I have a contract for this book I will complete in 2009. Orlando led Italy to victory in World War I and represented his country at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. This conference was crucial for Italy because the reaction to it contributed to the rise of Fascism. The book will appear in an exciting new series published by Haus in London: "Makers of the Modern World." "...Makers of the Modern World...[is] a ground breaking series of innovative biographies telling the personal stories of the men who tried to create 'the peace to end all war'. This comprehensive new series offers an unparalleled, panoramic view of the Paris Peace Conference at a critical turning point in modern history, exposing the full extent of the legacy which continues to influence the global politics of the 21st century" (Haus Publishing).

In 2007, the Italian translation of another book of mine appeared: Filippo Turati. Le origini della democrazia in Italia (Milan: Critica Sociale, 2007), with an wide-ranging introduction by me putting the book into the context of Italian historiography, and a valuable preface by Giuliano Amato, twice Prime Minister and at the time Minister of the Interior. This book touched off a national debate in Italy about reformism and its origins, and the roles of the Socialist and Communist parties during the past eighty years. I took part in symposia on this book with Italian professors, intellectuals, and politicians. The symposia took place in the Italian Senate and Chamber of Deputies, with television and radio coverage, and articles appeared in journals and in the country's most prestigious newspapers, including La Repubblica, Corriere della Sera, L’Unita`, Il Riformista, and Avanti!.

Unpublished Papers

NB: Papers given at historical conferences tend to express concepts in a more direct manner than when they are revised and published. Some of the papers are not revised and published, although they may be used in some form in published works. Here are examples of papers that I have given at historical conferences that have not been published. Reproduction of these works, in whole or in part, without written permission, is strictly prohibited. Send permission inquries to Spencer M. Di Scala.

Title	Date
"Preface for Alessandro Orsini" Here is the original English of a preface I wrote for Alessandro Orsini's book Anatomia dell Brigate Rosse, which appeared in September 2009.	Sep 2009	[ Read ]
"Legends, Lies, and Historiography: Italy, the Great War, and the Paris Peace Conference" I delivered this paper on January 5, 2009, at the American Historical Association conference.	Jan 2009	[ Read ]
"Salvemini in America" I delivered this paper on Gaetano Salvemini at a conference on the historian in December, 2007 at the Palazzo Giustiniani, a venue of the Italian Senate.	Dec 2007	[ Read ]
"Schlesinger" The general public is unaware of the role John F. Kennedy's advisor had in Italian politics. I wrote an op-ed piece explaining his role in March, 2007, shortly after his death, but it was not published. An expanded version of this piece was published in Italy.	Mar 2007	[ Read ]
"Il Secolo di Mazzini" I gave this paper on Mazzini at a conference entitled "Mazzini nel XXI secolo," held in Naples, Italy on October 6-8, 2006.	Oct 2006	[ Read ]
"Workings of the Italian Electoral System" A version of this piece explaining the nuts-and-bolts workings of the Italian electoral system was published in the Italian-American newspaper America Oggi.	Apr 2006	[ Read ]
"Memoria del fascismo dopo il fascismo" This paper was delivered at a conference iorganized by Prof. Emilio Gentile in Rome held at the Capitoline Museum, February 25-26, 2006.	Feb 2006	[ Read ]
"The Two Hundredth Anniversary of Giuseppe Mazzini’s Birth" The year 2005 marked the two hundreth anniversary of Giuseppe Mazzini's birth. I delivered several papers marking this event. These are the remarks I made at the State House in Boston on October 3, 2005 at the opening of Italian Heritage Month that year, which opened the celebration regarding Mazzini.	Oct 2005	[ Read ]
"Birth of the Italian Republic: Nenni, Togliatti, De Gasperi" This piece is a description of events and an interpretation of the birth of the Italian Republic, delivered of in June 2005.	Jun 2005	[ Read ]
"Comeback: Will the Twenty-First be Mazzini’s Century?" I gave this paper on Mazzini in June, 2005 in Boston on the 49th anniversary of the establishment of the Italian Republic.	Jun 2005	[ Read ]
"Intervista Spencer Di Scala" I released this interview, later published in Critica Sociale, in June 2005.	Jun 2005	[ Read ]
"Bettino Craxi and the Normalization of Italian Politics: Challenging the PCI and Reorienting Foreign Policy" The Italian Socialist leader Bettino Craxi is generally analyzed for his domestic policy. Here is a paper I gave on his foreign policy on January 27, 2005 that was translated into Italian and published as a chapter in a book on Craxi.	Jan 2005	[ Read ]
"I socialisti italiani visti dall’America: Nascita del Centro Sinistra" Here is a paper I gave on Pietro Nenni on January 12, 2005 on a symposium in Forli` on the 25th anniversary of Nenni's death. It discusses the relationship between Italian Socialists and the New Frontier that resulted in the Center Left in Italy.	Jan 2005	[ Read ]
"The 2004 U.S. Election" Frequently I have been asked to explain the American political system to foreigners and the Italian electoral system to Americans. This article is an example. This is the original of a piece on the 2004 American elections that was translated and published in the Italian review Mondoperaio.	2004	[ Read ]
"Enrico Fermi: A Twentieth Century Life" I gave this paper at a symposium at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of Enrico Fermi's birth. A revised version of this paper with a different emphasis has been published as "Science and Fascism: The Case of Enrico Fermi," Totalitarian Movement and Political Religions, 6, No. 2 (September 2005): 199-211)	Sep 2001	[ Read ]