Carlo Pisacane's La Rivoluzione

This is the first translation into English of a full-length work by Carlo Pisacane, setting out for the English reader the author’s radical approach to Italy’s Risorgimento and asserts his right to be seen as a pivotal figure.

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Pisacane has been described in English text books and by a number of historians as a key person and in one case as `one of the most intelligent leaders’ of the Risorgimento, yet little has been written about him in English. This work therefore aims to introduce this soldier, writer, freedom-fighter and martyr of the Sapri Expedition to an English readership. The introduction tells us about Pisacane’s life and career, including his part alongside Mazzini and Garibaldi in the Roman Republic. It also surveys his written work which evidenced the development of his political thinking and culminated in his Saggi-storici-politici-militari sull'Italia, published posthumously between 1858–1860. La Rivoluzione later published separately was a call to avoid the mistakes of earlier bourgeois revolutions, insisting on the need for an overtly socialist programme to involve the masses in a specifically Italian revolution.

Finally, the introduction attempts to set the translated work in the context of post-Enlightenment political thought, as well as contrasting Pisacane’s approach with the mainstream nationalist and republican movements in Italy.