Why Join?

  • Add New Books

  • Write a Review

  • Backpack Reading Lists

  • Monthly Newsletter

Join Now

Under the Volcano

Under the Volcano

Author(s): Lucy Riall

Location(s): Bronte

Genre(s): Historical

Era(s): 1860

Location

Content

During the tumultuous events that shook Italy in the year 1860 – the point at which the nation was unified – there was a murderous riot in the Sicilian town of Bronte on the slopes of Mount Etna. Thereafter, Bronte became a symbol – of the limits of the liberal Risorgimento and of the persistence of foreign domination: descendants of Admiral Horatio Nelson had the largest landholding in the town and the British were said to have put pressure on Garibaldi to crush the uprising, which his lieutenant did with brutality. Lucy Riall has used the discovery of a new archive to transform brilliantly this episode into an ambitious exploration of much larger themes. Relaying an often brutal tale of poverty, injustice, and mismanagement, her powerful and engaging narrative also opens windows onto the true meaning of the British presence. Bronte’s story becomes one that is also about Britain’s policy towards Italy and Europe in the nineteenth century, and about colonial rule overseas in the age of Empire. It shows what happened when these two different aspects of British power bumped into each other in one Sicilian town.

Review this Book

To review this book, please

Log in

Book Reviews

Lead Review

This is a rich book set in Mexico in the late 1030s. It is a masterpiece and captures both Mexico and the notion of the Day of the Dead, plus one man’s self desctruction,...

Read review

Latest Blogs