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Biography of an Industrial Town

Terni, Italy, 1831–2014

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Alessandro Portelli

    1. Università di Roma, Rome, Italy

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  • Written by the leading oral historian of labor movements in America and Europe
  • Appeals to scholars and students of oral history, anthropology, Italian History and social history
  • Provides an analysis of a small, Italian town’s transformation through the industrial revolution to its post-industrial crisis
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Oral History (PSOH)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxii
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  2. Biography of a Town

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Introduction: Speaking, Writing, and Remembering

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 3-14

    3. The Red and the Black: Rebels, Patriots, and Outlaws

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 15-31

    4. How Green Was My Valley: Feudal Landlords and Struggling Peasants

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 33-49

    5. How Steel Was Tempered: The Making of a Working Class

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 51-89

    6. Rebels: Socialists, Anarchists, and the Subversive Tradition

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 91-111

    7. The Iron Heel, or, We Didn’t Have Any Trouble: The Coming of Fascism

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 113-150

    8. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Surviving and Resisting Fascism

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 151-174

    9. Apocalypse Now: War, Hunger, and Mass Destruction

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 175-190

    10. Red Is the Color: The Gramsci Brigade and the Resistance

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 191-221

    11. The Best of Times, the Worst of Times: Economic Boom and Industrial Crisis

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 223-246

    12. Staying Alive: The Rise of Alternative Cultures

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 247-276

  3. Specialty Steel

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 277-277
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    2. David and Goliath: The Town, the Factory, and the Strike

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 279-308

    3. The Workers and the World: Terni Steel in the Age of Globalization

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 309-331

    4. The Empire Strikes Back: The Town, the Factory, the Strike—Reprise

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 333-345

    5. A Tale of Two Cities: Death, Survival, and Powerlessness in the Neo-Liberal Age

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 347-372

    6. Epilogue: Working-class Sublime

      • Alessandro Portelli
      Pages 373-379

  4. Back Matter

    Pages 381-400
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Keywords

About this book

A pioneering work in oral history, this book tells the story of the rise and fall of the industrial revolution and the apogee and crisis of the labor movement through an oral history of Terni, a steel town in Central Italy and the seat of the first large industrial enterprise in Italy. This story is told through a combination of stories, songs, myths and memories from over 200 voices of five generations, woven with a wealth of archival material. 


Reviews

“Biography of an Industrial Town is an ironclad book that is essential reading for everyone interested in oral history, the politics of resistance, and the privileging of the testimonies of narrators.” (William Burns, The Oral History Review, Vol. 46 (2), 2019)

“This book is a masterpiece. First and foremost, it’s a ground-breaking, exemplary work of oral history. As well, it’s an extraordinary, highly readable micro-history of a single industrial town, and in many ways, of the industrial period itself. And this is a beautiful book about memory—how memory works, and how it interacts with politics, identity, and resistance. It should be recommended reading for anyone studying these topics.” (John Foot, Professor of Modern Italian History, University of Bristol, UK)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Università di Roma, Rome, Italy

    Alessandro Portelli

About the author

Alessandro Portelli is a former professor of Anglo-American Literature at the University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy. He is the winner of the prestigious Viareggio Prize as well as an Oral History Association book award for The Order Has Been Carried Out (Palgrave, 2003). 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Biography of an Industrial Town

  • Book Subtitle: Terni, Italy, 1831–2014

  • Authors: Alessandro Portelli

  • Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Oral History

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50898-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-50897-9Published: 06 October 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-84516-6Published: 14 August 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-50898-6Published: 27 September 2017

  • Series ISSN: 2731-5673

  • Series E-ISSN: 2731-5681

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXII, 400

  • Topics: Oral History, History of Italy, Labor History, Cultural History, European Politics

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