Garibaldi: Hero of Italian Unification: Hero of Italian Unification

Christopher Hibbert wrote a wonderful biography of Garibaldi, the heroic military leader of Italian Unification and a free lance fighter against tyranny in several countries. Hibbert writes well and cites a multitude of original and secondary sources, most of them in the Italian language, so the book is well sourced. Garibaldi was bold, brave and flamboyant and rarely lacked confidence that he would emerge victorious in his battles. Easily the greatest Italian military leader since Julius Caesar and one of the great figures of the 19th Century. His admirers range from Lincoln to Che Guevara. Garibaldi is not well known outside of Italy, where he's still revered. This bio is a great introduction to a long and fascinating life.

Garibaldi was almost a superman to Europeans of the years around 1860. He was well known to readers of all the major newspapers of the era as a selfless patriot, military genius, and (apparently) an engaging personality. Newsmen from the western world wanted to follow him and share his adventures in uniting Italy. Today he is hardly known outside Italy.This book traces his exploits and life in a quick, readable fashion, concentrating on his campaign to free southern Italy from the Bourbon dynasty and thus unite Italy in 1860 and his defense of the Roman Republic in 1850. An interesting individual. This book is not an exhaustive biography of his life. Much of his early life fighting for various causes in South America is shrouded in mystery. He was apparently a man ahead of his time politically, who had to deal with the reactionary power of the Kingdom of Piedmont in northern Italy during his life. He probably wanted a much more progressive Italy than he got.HIs reputation as military leader was such at the time that sometime after the American Civil War started in 1861-1862, he was apparently offered the rank of General in the Union Army of the North States by Lincoln. Garibaldi replied that he would only be interested if the goal of the North was to free the slaves, which Lincoln felt he could not yet do. Because of diplomatic secrecy, this offer is not well known, and rests on a few letters between American diplomats. This book was first published in 1965, but is still a good, if fairly shallow, biography of Garibaldi.

A balanced, very engaging account of the Italian hero's life, with vivid sketches of other important figures in the Risorgimento period.

Very easy to read and interesting. I did use my smart phone to look up words as i went along. I also highlighted names of generals etc. when the were first mentioned so i could better place events in context.

Although this is a very thorough biography and Hibbert's knowledge of his subject is exhaustive I did not find this to be a pleasurable read. The writing style is dated and somewhat stilted. However, in preparing for a trip to Italy I wanted to learn something about Garibaldi and the Risorgimento and could find nothing more recent or complete.

This was a great book about a patriotic man. This was a very well written book that detailed the life of the hero of Italian unification. From his campaigns in South America to Rome to Sicily it is all here. This book also gives a good idea of what the times where like ( where wanting a parliament was considered radical) I highly recommend this book.

This book repeats the same old tired clichés, as if its author were merely rewriting the work of his predecessors. Lucy Riall's biography, published the same year, is much more current in its historiography.

Written a few years ago but probably the most recent biography... Reads well like a novel..He was popular in England & visited Bedford & LondonPresident Lincoln offered him a post of General in the Union Army in the US Civil War ...he turned it down unless he could supreme commander !

A great author and book, but beware this is the same book as "Garibaldi and His Enemies" but with a new and revised title

This is a vividly written and exhaustive narrative about one of the most remarkable characters of the 19th century. I strongly recommend it..

This is a very easy book to read chronicling the adventures of Giuseppe Garibaldi as he sought to unify Italy between 1848 and 1870.Italy had been invaded by Napoleon and turned into three major states in the north, the centre and the south. However, the 1815 Congress of Vienna returned the conquered principalities back to their original owners so that Italy was a patchwork of states. Piedmont in the North was ruled by the House of Savoy. The Kingdom of Two Sicilies was run from Naples by the Bourbons. The Pope ruled the Papal States between these two. And the massive Austro-Hungarian empire ruled substantial chunks of Italy including Venice and Tuscany.Garibaldi was born to a seafaring family in Nice (then part of France but soon to become part of the Kingdom of Piedmont) and then became a sailor. He became converted to the cause of Italian unification as a young man by the Saint-Simonians who preached, among other things, free love. His revolutionary zeal soon led to his escaping to exile in South America.In South America he took part in a number of revolutions as various countries sought liberation. This was the weakest part of the book. He was known as the 'Hero of Two Worlds' but the book treated these years very briefly.After returning to Italy Garibaldi became a hero of the Italian unification movement and an inspirational war leader, although in many of his battles he led his men in heroic and costly charges against superior odds. Luck was clearly on his side. Many times he survived through hails of bullets. Many times he escaped capture by the skin of his teeth. His victories often came as a result of the enemy being in the wrong place at the wrong time or surrendering because they thought he had far more men than he had.In between his revolutionary activities he retired to a rocky small-holding on a tiny Mediterranean island where he kept goats and impregnated servants.A fun book which never quite answers the question of how on earth did this man unify Italy?

Well written, fascinating subject.