Prophetic Times

Maurizio Viroli is Professor of Politics at Princeton University (Emeritus) and Professor of Government at University of Texas, Austin.

• Part I. From Dante to the Republic of Prophets: 1. Prophets and poets; 2. Savonarola's republican prophecy; 3. Prophetic Machiavelli; 4. The republic of the prophets (1527–1530); Part II. The Decline of Prophecy and Italy's Bondage: 5. The domination over consciences; 6. Prophets of self-denial; 7. Prophecy, reason of state and utopia; 8. Reverberations of bygone prophetic times; 9. Prophets are impostors or fools; 10. The revolution of the philosophers and the counterrevolution of the prophets; Part III. The Prophetic Voices of the Risorgimento and the Antifascist Resistance: 11. The times of prophets; 12. Prophetic poets; 13. Giuseppe Mazzini and his prophetic legacy; 14. The autumn of the Risorgimento and the birth of the Republic.

'In this learned and engaging monograph Maurizio Viroli focuses on the combination of politics and religion. More specifically, he assesses how it has been articulated and expressed in Italian history from the late Middle Ages to the present. The author's ability to synthetize is, in my opinion, one of the main merits of this wide and interdisciplinary (almost encyclopedic) study. Viroli has managed to gather almost eight centuries of Italian history in a mere 250 pages … placing the topic at hand within its wider European context.' Stefano U. Baldassarri, History of European Ideas