Assassins against the Old Order

"Assassins Against the Old Order is a significant historical study and a tribute to an eminent scholar." --Ovunque Siamo
"An outstanding book that deftly moves from an analysis of economic, political, and social conditions to the human scale through intimate descriptions of the values, lives, and actions of the most famous anarchist assassins. In explaining anarchist violence, it shows that the assassins aimed at killing symbols of state power and not persons."--Spencer Di Scala, author of Europe's Long Century: Politics, Society, Culture 1900-2000
"Pernicone's posthumously published work will open many eyes about Italian anarchist and their attentats (actions). Readers who want a clear understanding of Italian anarchism and anarchists will be well repaid by reading Assassins against the Old Order. Highly Recommended." --Choice
"This is history at its best-meticulously researched, filled with insightful details, and highly provocative. Pernicone and Ottanelli's book effectively explodes prevailing assumptions about fin-de-siècle Italian anarchists, showing that far from the 'born criminals' and degenerate madmen depicted in the yellow press they were a varied group of quite ordinary members of the working class who resist easy generalizations. Coming out at a time of unprecedented misinformation, misinterpretation and anti-intellectualism, Assassins against the Old Order also powerfully reminds us that anarchist violence cannot be conflated with contemporary definitions of 'terrorism' and that human behavior cannot be understood apart from the distinctive historical conditions and personal motivations of its actors. A must read for anyone interested in anarchism and, more broadly, the turbulent political history of late-nineteenth century Europe."--Marcella Bencivenni, author of Italian Immigrant Radical Culture: The Idealism of the Sovversivi in the United States, 1890-1940
"The definitive study of nineteenth-century anarchist violence." --H-Net Reviews
"Pernicone and Ottanelli have clearly opened new ground, and their original, commendable book will be a necessary reference for students on fin de siècle Anarchism and Italian social history." --Journal of Modern Italian Studies
"An excellent new study." --History News Network
"Such an excellent work." --American Historical Review

"Pernicone and Ottanelli create well-rounded portraits of the anarchist assassins as well as a powerful fresco of the socio-political context in which they operated. By the end of this volume, we readers have learned enough of the giustiziere to identify him as he walks shoulder to shoulder with the workers who crowd Pelizza da Volpedo’s Quarto stat." --Annali d'Italianistica