This essay takes a look at Modern Europe from a micro-historical perspective, weighing the benefits of micro-history against the broad perspective of macro-history.
Abstract This essay explores Modern Europe and, more specifically, modern Italy, with a micro-historical magnifying glass. By exploring specific incidences and personal accounts, the micro-histories tell the stories that the macro-histories often overlook. By taking a detailed look at the "Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara," by David Kertzer, the Papal hierarchy and the changing tides in Europe, this essay highlights all the small steps that are taken in order to make giant leaps in history.
From the Paper "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara artfully skews the boundaries that traditionally separate macro-history from micro-history. In his meticulous account of Edgardo Mortara, David Kertzer intimately reveals the controversial struggles endured by the Mortara family in mid-nineteenth century Italy. The tyrannical conventions of old-regime papal authority discordantly clash with the emerging post-enlightenment ideology as Kertzer places the fate of a young Jewish boy in context with European anti-Semitism and Italian unification. Throughout the course of his historic narrative, David Kertzer skillfully analyzes the infrastructure of Italian authority and explains how changes in public opinion throughout the world ultimately resulted in the downfall of papal dominance. Surprisingly ignored by most modern historians, Kertzer portrays the Mortara incident as a pivotal point in Italian unification and the institutional collapse of the church."
Abstract The neo-realist film "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" (Vittorio de Sica, 1970) based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Giorgio Bassani, is the story of a Jewish young man, Giorgio, living in Ferrara, near Bologna, in Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini. This paper discusses how, stylistically, the film contains many but not all essential elements of Italian neo-realism.
From the Paper " Within The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, the main character Giorgio has been in love since childhood with beautiful, wealthy Micol Finzi-Contini, who lives in a walled family estate that contains a huge, beautiful Eden-like garden. The appearance and atmosphere of the Finzi-Contini estate and garden seem like heaven on earth, especially compared to the chaotic, anxious, increasingly dangerous outside streets of Ferrara. The Finzi-Continis, like Giorgio's family, are assimilated Jews, although, according to Giorgio's protective, disapproving father, the Finzi-Continis wear their Jewish identity too lightly, and "don't even seem Jewish." Still the action focuses on Giorgio's determined but ill-fated quest to win the heart of Micol."
