MACMILLAN Italian Psychology and Jewish Emigration under Fascism: From Florence to Jerusalem and New York (Italian and Italian American Studies)

Fascism and the racial laws of 1938 dramatically changed the scientific research and the academic community. Guarnieri focuses on psychology, from its promising origins to the end of the WWII. Psychology was marginalized in Italy both by the neo-idealistic reaction against science, and fascism (unlike Nazism) with long- lasting consequences. Academics and young scholars were persecuted because they were antifascist or Jews and the story of Italian displaced scholars is still an embarrassing one. The book follows scholars who emigrated to the United States, such as psychologist Renata Calabresi, and to Palestine, such as Enzo Bonaventura. Guarnieri traces their journey and the help they received from antifascist and Zionist networks and by international organizations. Some succeeded, some did not, and very few went back. Review “Guarnieri examines the interaction of Fascism with the [academic] profession at large and its growing interference with the lives of its Jewish actors. … This breathtaking book is a tribute to what was lost, to the many who did not return, and to those numerous individuals whose memory has been quite totally removed from contemporary civic consciousness.” (Sergio Della Pergola, Studies in Contemporary Jewry, Vol. 31, 2020) “The book also provides a master class in the use of archives. Guarnieri shares with her readers her journey of discovery as she finds new sources. Like an architect who leaves beams exposed, she allows us to inspect where the weight of her investigations is borne. … Guarnieri’s presentation is understated―and all the more effective for her restraint. For these reasons, her book is a model of historical writing at its best.” (Noah Efron, Isis, Vol. 110 (2), June, 2019) “All the human as well as scientific aspects emerge, and readers are effortlessly led to relive the success and drama. … Italian psychologists had to make a choice: either to work for the fascist regime … or to flee the country. Patrizia Guarnieri’s book is dedicated to those who choose the latter, and to their ability to ‘look for work abroad’ and contribute to the reconstruction of the discipline from a distance.” (Luigi Traetta, Nuncius, 33 (1), 2018) “Italian Psychology and Jewish Emigration under Fascism: From Florence to Jerusalem and New York is a meticulously researched monograph by an author who has written widely on the history of Italian psychiatry and criminal anthropology in the late nineteenth century.” (Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, Journal of Modern Italian Studies, Vol. 22 (3), June, 2017) “Guarnieri’s powerful analysis of intellectual and political totalitarianism under Italian Fascism tells a gripping but fearful tale with profound resonances and implications for our own epoch as authoritarian populist nationalism begins to overtake democratic governments in Europe … . She focuses not on exiled Nobel Prize Winners but on scholars who left without having achieved tenure and found it impossible in the post-war period to be reintegrated into the complex Italian university system.” (Dorothy Porter, Medical History, Vol. 61 (2), April 2017)“This rich … work stands as a testament to the art of historical detection. … Guarnieri made intentional choices to make visible the contingency of archival research. … Guarnieri’s methodological choices make visible the process of historical interpretation and deduction, highlighting the incompleteness of individual pieces of historical evidence. … This is a creative, and at times, brilliant work … .” (Linda Reeder, Journal of the History of Medicine, Vol. 72 (2), April, 2017) “Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this book results from an inspired examination of archival materials from several repositories (in Italy, the USA, the UK and Israel), and especially the files of the refugee scholars’ assistance societies. It certainly casts new light on enraging episodes of academic persecutions about which we knew very littl