Guglielmo Ferrero

Guglielmo Ferrero
Born	21 July 1871
Died	3 August 1942(1942-08-04)(aged 71)
Occupations	Historian Journalist Novelist

Guglielmo Ferrero(Italian pronunciation:[ɡuʎˈʎɛlmoferˈrɛːro];21 July 1871 — 3 August 1942) was anItalianhistorian, journalist and novelist, author of theGreatness and Decline of Rome(5 volumes, published after English translation 1907–1909). Ferrero devoted his writings toclassical liberalismand he opposed any kind of dictatorship and unlimited government.

Biography

Born inPortici,nearNaples,Ferrero studied law inPisa,BolognaandTurin.Soon afterwards he marriedGina Lombroso,a daughter ofCesare Lombroso,the criminologist and psychiatrist with whom he wroteThe Female Offender,The ProstituteandThe Normal Woman.In 1891-1894 Ferrero travelled extensively in Europe and in 1897 wroteThe Young Europe,a book which had a strong influence overJames Joyce.

While studying the history ofRomeFerrero contributed to the literary magazineLa Rondabased in Rome.Then he turned to political essays and novels (Between Two Worldsin 1913,Speeches to the Deafin 1925 andThe Two Truthsin 1933-1939). When thefascistreign ofBlack Shirtsforced liberal intellectuals to leave Italy in 1925, Ferrero refused and was placed under house arrest. In 1929 Ferrero accepted aprofessorshipat theGraduate Institute of International StudiesinGeneva.His last works (Adventure,Bonaparte in Italy,The Reconstruction of Europe,The Principles of PowerandThe Two French Revolutions) were dedicated to theFrench RevolutionandNapoleon.In 1935 his daughter Nina Ferrero married theYugoslaviandiplomatBogdan Raditsa.

Ferrero was invited to theWhite Housein 1908 byTheodore Roosevelt,who had readThe Greatness and Decline of Rome.He gave lectures in the northeast of the USA which were collected and published in 1909 asCharacters and Events of Roman History.

He died in 1942 at theMont Pèlerin,Switzerland.

Works

In Italian

• Roma Antica,3 vols., Firenze: Le Monnier, 1921–22, with Corrado Barbagallo.

In English translation

• Militarisma contribution to the Peace Crusade (1903).
• The Greatness and Decline of Rome translated in five volumesby Sir Alfred Zimmern (Volumes 1 and 2) and the ReverendH J Chaytor(Volumes 3 to 5)
  • Volume 1: The Empire-Builders(1907).
  • Volume 2: Julius Caesar(1907).
  • Volume 3: The Fall of an Aristocracy(1907).
  • Volume 4: Rome and Egypt(1908).
  • Volume 5: The Republic of Augustus(1909).
• Characters and Events of Roman History from Caesar to Nero(1909).
• The Women of the Caesars(1911).
• Between the Old World and the New,a novel (1914).
• Ancient Rome and Modern America,a comparative study of morals and manners (1914).
• A Short History of Rome(with Corrado Barbagallo) translated in two volumes by George Chrystal (1918).
  • Volume 1: 754 BC to 44 BC
  • Volume 2: 44 BC to 476 AD
• Europe's Fateful Hour(1918).
• Problems of Peace, from the Holy Alliance to the League of Nations,a message from a European writer to Americans (1919).
• The Ruin of the Ancient Civilization and the Triumph of Christianity,with some consideration of conditions in the Europe of today (1921).
• Peace and War(1933).
• The Reconstruction of Europe: Talleyrand and the Congress of Vienna 1814-1845(1941).
• The Principles of Power: The Great Political Crisis in History.Translated by Jaeckel, Theodore R. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1942 – viaInternet Archive.

Selected articles

• "Puritanism,"The Atlantic Monthly,Vol. CVI, 1910.
• "American Characteristics,"The Atlantic Monthly,Vol. CVI, 1910.
• "The Dangers of War in Europe,"The Atlantic Monthly,Vol. CXI, 1913.

In French translation

• Les lois psychologiques du symbolisme,Paris, Félix Alcan, 1895. Published under the name of "Guillaume Ferrero".

Further reading

• Cook, Thomas I. (1952). "Guglielmo Ferrero (1871-1942) and the Bi-Polar World,"The Western Political Quarterly,Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 20–30.

External links

• Treves, Piero (1997)."FERRERO, Guglielmo".Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani,Volume 47: Ferrero–Filonardi(in Italian). Rome:Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.ISBN978-8-81200032-6.
• Works by Guglielmo FerreroatProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about Guglielmo FerreroatInternet Archive
• Works by Guglielmo Ferrero,atJSTOR
• Free e-books by Ferrero
• Newspaper clippings about Guglielmo Ferreroin the20th Century Press Archivesof theZBW