Author makes history personal, accessible
(34 minutes)
"I have some marvelous material for my next book, 'Mussolini and the Pope,' which I'm dying to get written," said Kertzer during a phone interview from Brown University in Providence, R.I. But the book he has just finished about human rights, titled "Amalia's Tale," is an intriguing story of a young peasant woman, Amalia Bagnacavalli, who contracts syphilis from a sickly baby she is given from a foundling home.
This is an unforgettable legal and social story that constantly rises and falls on various decisions that could be dull or complex were it not for the writing gift and intellectual genius Kertzer brings to this work. He makes it compelling by telling a true story about suffering, death and the unfair use of authority.
He also understands the "daunting nature of Italian law with its multilevel courts."
Kertzer refers to what he does as "microhistory," first popularized in the 1970s when historians decided to detour around their usual focus on "the elite, kings, wars, etc. and focus on real people, especially those who were illiterate," said Kertzer.
The idea he embraced is to "focus on an individual, someone who is part of an illiterate mass who became swept up in a leading issue of the time and it led to a documentary record of some kind."
When Kertzer researched the history of foundling homes in Italy from old churches and other depositories, he discovered other documents that "excited interest" and led him to believe that another kind of book was possible. "It became work for a detective, like a treasure hunt," said Kertzer. "You try various leads and hunches. Not many pan out, but if you're lucky some of them do. I came to understand the financial relationship between Amalia and her lawyer, and my hunch paid off."
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