John Pollard is Fellow in History at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and researches the modern history of Italy, the papacy, and Fascism and religion. His publications include Money and the Rise of the Modern Papacy: Financing the Vatican, 1850-1950 (2005).

‘Pollard’s survey is a very important book. It is the first such comprehensive historical assessment of the period to appear in English. It is also important for its excellent notes, index, and bibliography. These could easily be the point of departure for further profitable research.’ – Church Times'In his multidimensional study of Catholicism in Italy from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, John Pollard explores the impact of modernization on the Catholic Church […] [and] the creation of a selfconfident and durable Catholic subculture that served to insulate the faithful from many of the challenges of modernization. Pollard offers a valuable overview of modern Italian religious history.' – Peter C. Kent, University of New Brunswick, The Catholic Historical Review

• Acknowledgements. Glossary and list of abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. Catholicism and the Liberal Revolution (1815-1870) 3. The Catholic Recovery (1870-1914) 4. Italian Catholicism and the Challenges of Industrial Development (1880-1914) 5. Italian Catholics, the Great War and the Rise of Fascism (1914-1929) 6. Fascism, War and the Resistance (1929-1945) 7. The Age of Catholic 'Triumphalism' (1945-1958) 8. The New 'Secularisation' (1958-1978) 9. Italy in the Age of Religious Pluralism (1978 to the Present) 10. Conclusion. Endnotes. Bibliography. Index