Focusing on the experiences and representations of the 'brown babies' born at the end of World War Two from the encounters between Black Allied soldiers and Italian women, this book explores the persistence of racial thinking and racism in post-fascist and postcolonial Italy. Through the use of a large variety of historical sources, including personal testimonies and the cinema, Silvana Patriarca illustrates Italian – and also American – responses to what many considered a 'problem'. She sensitively analyses the perceptions of race/color among different actors, such as state and local authorities, Catholic clerics, filmmakers, geneticists, psychologists, and ordinary people, and her book is rich in detail about their impact on the lives of the children. Uncovering the pervasiveness of anti-Black prejudice in the early democratic republic, as well as the presence and limitations of anti-racist sensibilities, Race in Post-Fascist Italy allows us to better understand Italy's conflicted reaction to its growing diversity.

‘Through a close analysis of both documentary records from orphanages, schools, and public and Catholic aid agencies, and of popular culture in the form of novels, films, and songs, a sordid picture emerges of racialized thinking regarding these children’s perceived otherness with respect to intelligence, aptitude, biology, and citizenship … Recommended.’

R. T. Ingoglia Source: Choice

‘… a vital contribution, placing Italy’s racial identity, internal racial violence, and the intricate genealogy of race and gender entanglements under scrutiny.’

Cristina Lombardi-Diop Source: The Journal of Modern History