Italian Women at War

Susan Amatangelo is associate professor of Italian at the College of the Holy Cross.

• Introduction: Italy’s Sisters in Arms Susan AmatangeloPart I: The Unification of Italy1One in a Mille: Countess Martini Della Torre Benedetta Gennaro2Peppa La Cannoniera: Citizenship in Action Giovanna Summerfield3“Sono briganta, io, non donna di brigante”: The Female Brigand’s Search for Identity Susan AmatangeloPart II: The Two World Wars4Women at War: Eva Kühn Amendola (Magamal) – Interventionist, Futurist, Fascist Lucia Re5“We will build a better world together”:Female Partisans’ Memories of Their Resistance to Fascism (1943-1945) Fiona M. Stewart6Where Women Meet Resistance: Fenoglio’s War Narratives Daria ValentiniPart III: State Terrorism and the Mafia7A Sister Without Arms: The Myth of Antigone in Liliana Cavani’s The Cannibals Stefania Benini8Fighting Cosa Nostra with the Camera’s Eye: Letizia Battaglia’s Evolving Icons of “Traumatic Realism” Norma BouchardAbout the Editor and ContributorsIndex

If it is not surprising that the readership of a thematically based collection of essays will be, primarily, upper-division undergraduates and specialists, it is noteworthy to find one with such a broad-based appeal. Students of Italian studies, whether concerned with history, literature, the cinema, or photography, will find something of interest in this book. The essays, whose temporal focus is exclusively from the Risorgimento through the 20th century, are structured around women’s participation in warfare and how society imagined, welcomed, or acknowledged their contributions. This includes discussions of actual women such as the brigantessa (female brigands) in post-unification Sicily and those partigiani struggling against the Nazi and Salò regimes, as well as literary representations of female fighters as found in novels such as Grazia Deledda’s Marianna Sirca (1915), or in films such as Liliana Cavanni’s The Cannibals (1969). The essay on the life of Eva Kühn Amendola—who was at the crossroads of interventionism, futurism, and Fascism—is especially fascinating.... Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.