The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1825-1861

by Harold Acton

This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection

Genres: History, Italy

559 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Sir Harold Mario Mitchell Acton was a British writer, scholar and dilettante who is probably most famous for being believed, incorrectly, to have inspired the character of "Anthony Blanche" in Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited (1945).

Reviews

[Tex-49 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Libro molto interessante e, alla fine, anche epico e commovente; non è la storia del Regno delle due Sicilie, ma dei Borboni, come dice però il titolo, per cui non ci si deve aspettare un'analisi politico-sociologica della Società di quel periodo, né tantomeno menzione di fatti e movimenti non strettamente legati agli eventi che hanno avuto come perno la famiglia reale.
Le sue fonti sono principalmente estere, in particolare resoconti di diplomatici e viaggiatori stranieri, un po' meno saggi nazionali; ma questo, nonostante l'astio di quelli inglesi e le beghe di quasi tutti gli altri per far cadere il Regno, comunque assicura delle fonti diverse da quelle che per tanti anni, per esaltare l'Unità d'Italia, hanno visto solo il male in questa dinastia.
Non è solo storia di fatti ma anche di persone: di acerrimi nemici, di falsi amici traditori, di voltagabbana e di uomini fedeli al loro governo/paese ed al loro onore.

[Chase Insteadman Mountbatten · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Though they were to depart with 'the honours of war', with their equipment, stores, artillery, horses, and baggage, while the Dictator took over the forts, barraks and military establishments after an exchange of prisoners, not a few of them wept for shame as they filed off in a seemingly endless column before grinning groups of their red-shirted victors. They could not understand their humiliating defeat: had they not been betrayed by their commanders?
Old General Lanza looked as self-satisfied as if he had won a campaign. At a final parade, like a flamboyant mockery of militarism, one miserable soldier stepped from the ranks and shouted to the General in hoarse resentment: 'Look Your Excellency! Just see how many we are! Must we really leave like this?' 'Be off you drunken sot!' the General replied.

[Richard Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A best read of a fascinating family who have had a bad press from liberal writers (The negation of God erected into a system of government was one observation). He writes well about a baroque family of royals who were on balance rather better than the Savoy dynasty who supplanted them in Italy.