Axel Körner is a reader in Modern European History at University College London. His publications include Das Lied von einer anderen Welt. Kulturelle Praxis in französischen und deutschen Arbeitermilieu (1997) and 1848: A European Revolution? (2000; rev.ed. 2003).

• List of IllustrationsList of TablesAbbreviationsIntroductionPart One: Political and Social Conflict1 Notabili: The Local Persistence of the Old Régime2 The Theatre of Social Change: Opera Industry and the End of Social Privilege3 Money and CulturePart Two: Writing the Past.4 The Middle Class and the Historicising of the Present5 Medieval Revival6 Etruscans, Romans and ItaliansPart Three: The City, The Nation and European Culture7 Urban Space and Civic Culture: Representing City and Nation8 Margherita: Umbertian Italy and its Monarchy9 "Viva Rossini – Morte a Wagner"? From Campanilismo to the Future10 Conclusions and Epilogue: Modernity, the Political Power of Culture and the Collapse of Liberal DemocracyBibliographyIndex

'Essential' – CHOICE'Körner’s work draws brilliantly on a vast range of primary and secondary material to produce a rich and original study covering an extremely wide set of areas and themes.' – Journal of Urban History