"A brilliant exploration of Italian print modernity, this book charts Sonzogno's visionary innovations in newspapers, serialized fiction, and periodicals. Valisa shows how nineteenth-century media practices - shaped by technology, ideology, and readership - anticipate today's digital information systems. Insightful and rigorously argued, it is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the origins and enduring dynamics of modern media culture."--Stefano Bragato, Independent Researcher "The Periodical Life of Modernityis a monograph for our times, a rare instance of insight into the evolution of media that explains the present moment through a clear-headed understanding of the past."--Clorinda Donato, California State University, Long Beach "Silvia Valisa is the leading authority on publisher Sonzogno. The Periodical Life of Modernityfills a significant gap in Italy's intellectual history and moves beyond encyclopedic volumes to set a new standard for scholars studying individual publishers."--Ombretta Frau, Mount Holyoke College "Silvia Valisa's in-depth study of Il Secolo, along with some of its ancillary content, is dedicated to a nuanced study of the vast and varied production of the publishing firm Sonzogno. The Periodical Life of Modernityprovides a unique vantage point from which the complexities of Italian culture during the turn of the century can be gleaned.

Valisa offers a groundbreaking interrogation of nineteenth-century print culture that far exceeds national limits and that will prove to be seminal to scholars of the history of publishing across Europe."--Giancarlo Lombardi, City University of New York.