Denis MACK SMITH

Denis Mack Smith had an enormous influence on my intellectual development. I first read some of his work as a sixth=former in the 1970s, and one of my supervisors as an undergraduate at Cambridge later told me that he was very struck by my reference to Mazzini and 1848 in one of my Entrance papers, undoubtedly a result of my having read something of by Denis. As an undergraduate I devoured his works on Cavour, Garibaldi and the Risorgimento, and it was Denis"s example that led me to choose an Italian topic for my Ph.D, on which Denis was ultimately to be the senior of my two examiners. I will always remember my viva in Keith Joseph"s office in All Souls in 1983, and how Denis kindly tried to convey, in a very prudent and understated way, that the 45 minutes had had a positive outcome, although I was far too nervous to take this in at the time. I subsequently had the pleasure of seeing Denis at conferences of the Association for the Study of Modern Italy,in which he played so important a role, particularly in its early years, and I benefitted from his favourable references in a number of applications for academic posts. Needless to say, I used his works, especially his general history Modern Italy, for teaching purposes throughout my career as a University Lecturer - his lively and often caustic pen portraits of late 19th and early 20th century Italian political figures were invariably a good spur to seminar discussion. He will be greatly missed by all of us who were lucky enough to know him, but the impact of his remarkable writings will long outlive him, perhaps even more in his beloved Italy than in his native England