Reconstructing the Past

Reconstructing the Past explores some of the ways in which post-war society in Germany, France and Italy has come to terms - or failed to come to terms - with the traumatic experiences of Nazism, Fascism, the Occupation and the Resistance in the pre-1945 period. The overall scope of this study is a cultural one, but this encompasses both general surveys of socio-cultural developments and closer examinations of specific texts, films and aspects of political discourse-iconography. Highlighting the formation of post-war identities and bringing the reader up to the present, the book demonstrates that 'coming to terms' with the Fascist era is an ongoing process.