On the Edge of Democracy is a detailed case study of the dual political transformation that Italy underwent between 1943 and 1948: from monarchy to Republic, and from fascism to democracy. Stepping away from examining formal political activity, Forlenza focuses on the hopes, fears, and expectations that the public formulated under conditions of political and existential uncertainty.

• Introduction


• 1: The Liminal Origins of Italian Democracy


• 2: Monarchy or Republic?


• 3: America is Coming! America is Coming!


• 4: Between East and West: Communism, Anti-Communism and the Cold War


• 5: The Power of Memory


• 6: Meanings of Democracy


• Conclusion


• Bibliography

Rosario Forlenza is a Fellow at the Remarque Institute, New York University. He is a historian of modern Europe with expertise in political anthropology, symbolic and cultural politics, politics and religion, democracy, authoritarianism and revolution, nationalism, and the politics of memory. He has worked at the University of Cambridge, Princeton University, Columbia University, and the University of Padova. He has published a number of journal articles in history and social science journals. He also co-authored a book, Italian Modernities: Competing Narratives of Nationhood (2016).