by Enrico Dal Lago
William Lloyd Garrison and Giuseppe Mazzini, two of the
foremost radicals of the nineteenth century, lived during a time of profound
economic, social, and political transformation in America and Europe. Both born
in 1805, but into dissimilar family backgrounds, the American Garrison and
Italian Mazzini led entirely different lives—one as a citizen of a democratic
republic, the other as an exile proscribed by most European monarchies. Using a
comparative analysis, Enrico Dal Lago suggests that Garrison and Mazzini
nonetheless represent a connection between the egalitarian ideologies of
American abolitionism and Italian democratic nationalism.
Focusing on Garrison’s and Mazzini’s activities and
transnational links within their own milieus and in the wider international
arena, Dal Lago shows why two nineteenth-century progressives and
revolutionaries considered liberation from enslavement and liberation from
national oppression as two sides of the same coin. At different points in their
lives, both Garrison and Mazzini demonstrated this belief by concurrently
supporting the abolition of slavery in the United States and the national
revolutions in Italy. The two meetings Garrison and Mazzini had, in 1846 and in
1867, served to reinforce their sense that they somehow worked together toward
the achievement of liberty not just in the United States and Italy, but also in
the Atlantic and Euro-American world as a whole. In the end, the abolition of
American slavery led to Garrison’s consecration, while the new Italian kingdom
forced Mazzini into exile. Despite these different outcomes, Garrison and
Mazzini both attracted legions of devoted followers who believed these men
personified the radical causes of the nations to which they belonged.
ISBN 978-0807152065, Louisiana State University Press, ©
2013, Hardcover, 269 Pages, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $42.50. To
Purchase the book click HERE.
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