Overview

This book offers an original and comprehensive study of the memory of the Rogo di Primavalle, a fatal arson attack on the home of a far-right family on 16 April 1973. Perpetrated by members of the militant left group Potere Operaio, this was the first attack on a domestic space during Italy’s Years of Lead. Through analysis of media coverage, books, and social media; observation of commemoration ceremonies; visits to sites of memory; and oral history interviews conducted by the author, The Politics of Sacrifice argues that memory of the Rogo di Primavalle has been instrumentalised by neo-fascist groups over the past 50 years. Drawing on contemporary theoretical debates relating to public and private memories, King connects the construction of a narrative of sacrifice to challenges faced by the institutional far right from the time of the Movimento Sociale Italiano in the 1970s, Alleanza Nazionale in the mid-1990s, and Fratelli d’Italia today. With the far right on the rise in Italy and abroad, the book identifies the characteristics of remembering that define far-right memory culture and investigates the role of memory in building support for the far right over time. Winner of the 2024 Book Prize – First Book (Ex-Aequo) awarded by The American Association for Italian Studies for its outstanding contribution to Italian Studies.  

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9783031455520

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Author Information

Amy King is Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Bristol, UK.

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