Lucy Riall
Encyclopedia
Lucy Riall is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London
.
Riall studied at the London School of Economics
and the University of Cambridge
. She was a lecturer in Modern European history at the University of Essex
before moving to Birkbeck. Since 2004 she has been editor of the journal European History Quarterly.
Among her many prestigious awards are a Visiting Professorship at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris and a Senior Fellowship at the University of Freiburg's Institute of Advanced Study.
One of the leading experts on modern Italy, Riall has written on nineteenth-century state-formation and nationalism
in Italy
and Sicily
. Several of her books treat the history of the Risorgimento; Garibaldi: Invention of a Hero (2007) examined the popular cult of Giuseppe Garibaldi
as a global cultural phenomenon.
Riall speaks fluent Italian and she appears frequently on Italian TV and radio (RAI) as well as on the BBC.
Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It offers many Master's and Bachelor's degree programmes that can be studied either part-time or full-time, though nearly all teaching is...
.
Riall studied at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
and the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. She was a lecturer in Modern European history at the University of Essex
University of Essex
The University of Essex is a British campus university whose original and largest campus is near the town of Colchester, England. Established in 1963 and receiving its Royal Charter in 1965...
before moving to Birkbeck. Since 2004 she has been editor of the journal European History Quarterly.
Among her many prestigious awards are a Visiting Professorship at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris and a Senior Fellowship at the University of Freiburg's Institute of Advanced Study.
One of the leading experts on modern Italy, Riall has written on nineteenth-century state-formation and nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
in Italy
History of Italy
Italy, united in 1861, has significantly contributed to the political, cultural and social development of the entire Mediterranean region. Many cultures and civilizations have existed there since prehistoric times....
and Sicily
History of Sicily
The history of Sicily has seen Sicily usually controlled by greater powers—Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Islamic, Norman, Hohenstaufen, Catalan, Spaniard—but also experiencing short periods of independence, as under the Greeks and later as the Emirate then Kingdom of Sicily...
. Several of her books treat the history of the Risorgimento; Garibaldi: Invention of a Hero (2007) examined the popular cult of Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
as a global cultural phenomenon.
Riall speaks fluent Italian and she appears frequently on Italian TV and radio (RAI) as well as on the BBC.
Works
- The Italian Risorgimento: state, society, and national unification, Routledge, 1994
- Sicily and the unification of Italy : liberal policy and local power, 1859-1866, Oxford University Press, 1998
- (ed. with David Laven) Napoleon’s Legacy: problems of government in Restoration Europe, Berg, 2000
- Garibaldi: invention of a hero, Yale University Press, 2007 (Italian translation, Laterza, 2007).
- Risorgimento: the history of Italy from Napoleon to nation state, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 (Italian translation, Donzelli 2009).