Overview

'A compelling and sobering read' JOHN DICKIE, author of Mafia Republic 'Deeply researched and powerfully written' ROSS KING, author of Brunelleschi's Dome The explosive story of the terrorist group who brought Italy to a standstill in the 1970s. In March 1978, the Red Brigades kidnapped former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, murdering his bodyguards. For nearly two months, they held him hostage while a shocked world looked on, before eventually killing him and dumping his body in the middle of Rome. But who were this terrorist group? What did they want? And how did they continue to operate for almost twenty years, terrifying a nation from 1970 to 1988? In John Foot’s remarkable new book, we learn how they became the most formidable left-wing terrorist organisation in post-war Western Europe. Drawing their support from the student protest movements of the 1960s, activists and workers radicalised by the ‘hot autumn’ of 1969, the Red Brigades were inspired by terrorist groups from across the world, especially in Latin America. They recognised no rules and authority other than their own, and launched a campaign of murder, kidnap, kneecapping and intimidation that paralysed Italy’s justice system and reshaped the political landscape. For a time, they were admired as freedom fighters by the Italian left and commemorated as martyrs. Through meticulous research, Foot uncovers the true story behind the myths that have grown around the Red Brigades, highlighting the human costs of their actions, as well as their impact on Italian society. He explains how the contradictions inherent in their actions eventually led to their downfall in a series of high-profile mass trials. The Red Brigades sheds new light on the shadowy world of the brigatisti, and highlights their legacy of conspiracy, distrust and bitterness that still lingers in Italy to this day.

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9781526645715

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Reviews

A sober, painstaking corrective to wild notions that have the group as the catspaw of the CIA, the Rothschilds or Italy’s secret services -- James Owen * The Times * John Foot’s history of the Red Brigades is as comprehensive a study as you will find, and it should be the final one… Foot has carried out an immense amount of research and provides an extraordinary quantity of detail -- Simon Gaul * Literary Review * John Foot offers a deeply researched and powerfully written account of one of the darkest chapters in Italian history. Capturing the spirit of this troubled and turbulent era, he traces the personal journeys, political theories and cultural forces that radicalised a generation. An illuminating read that makes a major contribution to the history of political violence and the legacies of 1968 -- Ross King, author of BRUNELLESCHI'S DOME If John Foot’s The Red Brigades were not so clear-eyed, well-documented and humane, the story it tells would scarcely be believable. A small group of misfits managed to bring Italy’s courts to a grinding halt and shake democracy to its foundations. Foot deploys previously unstudied material to reconstruct the Red Brigades’ woolly ideology, their cult of violence, their tactics, and the escalating horror of their actions. He is pitiless in exposing how intellectuals and ordinary citizens alike acquiesced to the Red Brigades’ reign of terror, and how a generation of journalists failed to question the way victims were dehumanised. A compelling and sobering read -- John Dickie, author of MAFIA REPUBLIC Foot's magisterial account of Italy's communist radicals matches its detailed scholarship with gripping prose ... He gives an utterly fasincating insight into how these murderous purveyors of odious claptrap were allowed the clout they had. There is never an excuse for terrorism, which perhaps is the most important thing this superb book teaches us -- Simon Heffer * The Telegraph *

John Foot offers a deeply researched and powerfully written account of one of the darkest chapters in Italian history. Capturing the spirit of this troubled and turbulent era, he traces the personal journeys, political theories and cultural forces that radicalised a generation. An illuminating read that makes a major contribution to the history of political violence and the legacies of 1968 -- Ross King, author of BRUNELLESCHI'S DOME If John Foot’s The Red Brigades were not so clear-eyed, well-documented and humane, the story it tells would scarcely be believable. A small group of misfits managed to bring Italy’s courts to a grinding halt and shake democracy to its foundations. Foot deploys previously unstudied material to reconstruct the Red Brigades’ woolly ideology, their cult of violence, their tactics, and the escalating horror of their actions. He is pitiless in exposing how intellectuals and ordinary citizens alike acquiesced to the Red Brigades’ reign of terror, and how a generation of journalists failed to question the way victims were dehumanised. A compelling and sobering read -- John Dickie, author of MAFIA REPUBLIC

Author Information

John Foot is the author of nine books, including Blood and Power: The Rise and Fall of Italian Fascism and The Archipelago: Italy since 1945. Eight of his books have been translated into Italian. He has written for the Guardian, Independent on Sunday, London Review of Books and the TLS, and he is a regular contributor to the Italian magazine Internazionale. He has appeared in a number of TV documentaries and on national and local radio. He is Professor of Modern Italian History at the University of Bristol, and was awarded the British Academy's prestigious Serena Medal in 2019 for his 'path-breaking' work in Italian history. He lives in Bristol with his partner and daughter.

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