Offers a neat capsule history of Italy in the first half of the century, particularly Mussolini’s rise to power…. Hit[s] home… in its inescapable parallels to our current situation. Ms. Moorehead never makes the point explicitly, and she doesn’t have to.” — Wall Street Journal
“An intimate family portrait…. Moorehead has done us a great service in restoring the humanity of the Rosselli family…. It’s the most complete portrait we have in English of this extraordinary family fighting—each in his or her own way—the most pernicious ideology of the last century.” — New York Times Book Review
“This account of a patriotic Italian-Jewish family at the forefront of the resistance to Mussolini’s regime follows the brothers.... But the center of the book is their mother, Amelia, a prominent playwright and feminist to whom they wrote frequently. Moorehead draws extensively on their letters, giving the reader an intimate sense of the everyday depredations of life under Fascism.” — New Yorker
“Much has been written about life under fascist rule.... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family. Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression.” — Guardian
“An extremely personal and engaging story about the price one family paid for its political resistance.... A must-read.” — Library Journal, starred review
“Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.” — Financial Times
“Moorehead recounts a story that deserves to be better known, exploiting her remarkable understanding of the nation and its culture.” — Max Hastings, London Sunday Times
“A haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance.” — Times (London)
“Shines light on the Rosselli family… to illuminate the treacherous and contradictory nature of life in Il Duce’s Italy…. As well versed in Italian socialism as she is in spy-novel tropes, Moorehead combines intellectual rigor with immersive storytelling that will appeal to specialists and casual readers alike.” — Publishers Weekly
“An absorbing, well-documented narrative…. A vivid portrait of resistance in dark, perilous times that is not without contemporary relevance.” — Kirkus
“An inspiring story, well told.” — Booklist
Much has been written about life under fascist rule.... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family. Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression.”
A haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance.
Moorehead recounts a story that deserves to be better known, exploiting her remarkable understanding of the nation and its culture.
Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.
An inspiring story, well told.
An inspiring story, well told.
Offers a neat capsule history of Italy in the first half of the century, particularly Mussolini’s rise to power…. Hit[s] home… in its inescapable parallels to our current situation. Ms. Moorehead never makes the point explicitly, and she doesn’t have to.
This account of a patriotic Italian-Jewish family at the forefront of the resistance to Mussolini’s regime follows the brothers.... But the center of the book is their mother, Amelia, a prominent playwright and feminist to whom they wrote frequently. Moorehead draws extensively on their letters, giving the reader an intimate sense of the everyday depredations of life under Fascism.
Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.
Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.
A moving novelistic portrait. . . . An inspiring and fascinating read.
People on A Train in Winter
By turns heartbreaking and inspiring.
New York Times Book Review on A Train in Winter
A compelling and moving book. . . . . The literature of wartime France and the Holocaust is by now so vast as to confound the imagination, but when a book as good as this comes along, we are reminded that there is always room for something new.
Washington Post on A Train in Winter
Le Chambon has long been mythologized in France for the actions of its inhabitants, who sheltered the refugees and helped many escape to Switzerland. But, as this riveting history shows, the story is more complex.
The New Yorker on Village of Secrets
The definitive account.
Wall Street Journal on Village of Secrets
Compelling and deeply informed…. [Moorehead] has done us the great service of unveiling the real lives behind the myth and in demonstrating that fallible human beings are far more interesting and dramatic figures than those who make up the stuff of legends.
New York Times Books Review on Village of Secrets
A haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance.
Moorehead’s portrait of the Rosselli brothers is at once a political history of pre-second world war Italy, a beautiful literary portrait of two brave young men, and a gripping tale of intrigue, espionage and escape.... I finished it impressed, breathless and enormously moved.
A major contribution to the study of anti-Fascism, further enriched by Caroline Moorehead’s vivid portrayal of interwar Italy and Europe.
Moorehead, a distinguished biographer and historian, tells the story of the Rosselli brothers and their mother Amelia, a playwright, with sensitivity, erudition, and balance.... A fine tribute.
Carefully, and with considerable skill, Moorehead juxtaposes the growth into maturity of the intelligent Florentines, Carlo and Nello, with a vivid account of the turbulent conditions that enabled Fascism to take root.”
Much has been written about life under fascist rule.... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family. Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression.
Making judicious use of thousands of letters, Moorehead paints an intimate family portrait…[She] writes engagingly about domestic matters, the tension inherent in the underground resistance and even the dreary monotony of life in confino on the remote penal islands…Moorehead has done us a great service in restoring the humanity of the Rosselli family. She reminds us that these anti-fascists "regarded morality—truth, integrity, honesty, as opposed to fascist venality and bullying—as lying at the heart of their anti-fascism." It's the most complete portrait we have in English of this extraordinary family fighting—each in his or her own way—the most pernicious ideology of the last century.
The New York Times Book Review - Stanislao G. Pugliese
09/11/2017
An intimate family portrait…. Moorehead has done us a great service in restoring the humanity of the Rosselli family…. It’s the most complete portrait we have in English of this extraordinary family fighting—each in his or her own way—the most pernicious ideology of the last century.
New York Times Book Review
This account of a patriotic Italian-Jewish family at the forefront of the resistance to Mussolini’s regime follows the brothers.... But the center of the book is their mother, Amelia, a prominent playwright and feminist to whom they wrote frequently. Moorehead draws extensively on their letters, giving the reader an intimate sense of the everyday depredations of life under Fascism.
Offers a neat capsule history of Italy in the first half of the century, particularly Mussolini’s rise to power…. Hit[s] home… in its inescapable parallels to our current situation. Ms. Moorehead never makes the point explicitly, and she doesn’t have to.
Much has been written about life under fascist rule.... But the study of a nation can never be as emotionally compelling as the study of a family. Expertly alternating vivid domestic detail with lucid exposition of the gradual evolution of totalitarianism, Caroline Moorehead allows her readers not only to know, but also to feel, how it was to endure fascist oppression.
A haunting reminder of the fragility of liberty and the dangers of complaisance.
★ 09/01/2017
2017-07-04
