CES: Gaetano Salvemini and the Harvard Years: Profile of a European Exile

Renato Camurri presents Gaetano Salvemini: Lettere Americane, 1927-1949, a collection of previously unpublished letters written by the Italian antifascist historian and political activist Gaetano Salvemini during his years of exile in the United States.Renato Camurri Associate Professor of Late Modern and Contemporary History, University of VeronaChaired by David Armitage Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History , Harvard University; Chair, History Department, Harvard UniversityDiscussant: Charles S. Maier Leverett Saltonstall Professor of History, Harvard UniversitySponsors: Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies; Italian Consulate General in Boston

Contrary to traditional accounts that depict Salvemini’s exile as a period of isolation dedicated solely to scholarly research, Camurri’s volume reveals his importance as a public figure. Not only was he active as a teacher and opinion maker at Harvard University and fully integrated into the intellectual community in Cambridge, he also played a central role in the construction of a network of antifascist European intellectuals in the United States. Salvemini, therefore, emerges as a model figure of a European exile in America.

Camurri’s volume inaugurates a new series, Italiani dall’Esilio, published by Donzelli Editore with the support of Paolo Marzotto, which is dedicated to exploring the history of Italian exiles in the American continent.

Contact: Roumiana Theunissen, rtheunissen@fas.harvard.edu