This book is set to become an indispensable secondary text for Anglophone students of Italian children's literature. (Pat Pinsent, The Journal of Children's Literature Studies 8, 2012/2) `Making the Italians' provides an invaluable contribution to the field of Italian children's literary criticism; it also has the potential to truly engage readers whose scholarly interests lie within ... Read morethe realms of cultural history or literary history more generally. This work demonstrates that Massimo D'Azeglio's oft-quoted dictum - to which the title of the book refers - has perpetual resonance in the field of children's literature; the process of `making Italians' is not finite but rather involves the education and socialisation of each successive generation. Myers' study provides an insight into the role which authors of children's fantasy have played and continue to play in this process, thus offering readers a heretofore neglected perspective on a component of the cultural fabric of Italian society. (Jessica D'Eath, La Libellula 4, 2012/4) Show Less