A Hero of Two Worlds (Paperback)

Sam Allis

ISBN 10: 1533298769 / ISBN 13: 9781533298768

Published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

About this Item

Paperback. "A Hero of Two Worlds" is a book of sweeping historical fiction set in Rome in the early 1860s, when the great fight to transform the Italian peninsula into a country was raging. It traces the life of a young American sculptor named Rufus Trask from his arrival there in 1847 to his soldiering in the Union Army in the American Civil War sixteen years later. The story offers a rich portrait of life in Rome's American expatriate community, teeming with talented artists and louche flaneurs, intrigue and illicit affairs. It also plumbs Trask's double life as a carefree American devoted to his craft and a deadly fighter with republicans bent on ending authoritarian papal rule. He surfaces in Rome as the republican drums are beating across Europe: Down with the monarchies, up with republican democracies. He is in the streets when republicans chase Pope Pius IX out of the city. Trask becomes a hunted man and escapes to a remote mountain village, where he falls in love. He returns to Rome, where his life collapses as he spars with papal spies and French troops occupying the city. He eventually sails for America, where fulfills his destiny as a hero of two worlds. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781533298768

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Hero of Two Worlds (Paperback)
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1533298769
• ISBN 13: 9781533298768
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

“A Hero of Two Worlds” is a book of sweeping historical fiction set in Rome in the early 1860s, when the great fight to transform Italy into a country was raging. It traces the life of a young American sculptor named Rufus Trask from his arrival there in 1847 to his soldiering in the Union Army in the American Civil War sixteen years later. The story offers a rich portrait of life in Rome's American expatriot community, teeming with talented artists and louche flaneurs, intrigue and illicit affairs. It also plumbs Trask's double life as a carefree American devoted to his craft and a deadly fighter with republicans bent on ending authoritarian papal rule. He surfaces in Rome as the republican drums are beating across Europe: Down with the monarchies, up with republican democracies. He is in the streets when republicans chase Pope Pius IX out of the city. Trask becomes a hunted man and escapes to a remote mountain village, where he falls in love. He returns to Rome, where his life collapses as he spars with papal spies and French troops occupying the city. He eventually sails for America, where fulfills his destiny as a hero of two worlds.

About the Author

Sam Allis was a journalist for almost forty years, much of that time spent as a correspondent for Time magazine. He also wrote columns for The Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe, where he was Foreign Editor as well. He fell in love with Italy when he was twelve, and has returned numerous times since then. Allis cemented his affection for the country during a year he spent in Perugia and Florence between school and college. He majored in modern Italian history at Harvard and was Time's Rome Bureau Chief during the mid-eighties. He also did extensive research at the Massachusetts Historical Society on the Risorgimento, the nineteenth century republican movement to unify Italy, and the expatriate life of Americans in Rome during that period. His passionate interest in the American Civil War informs the last quarter of "A Hero of Two Worlds," when the story shifts from Italy to that conflict. Allis lives in Boston with his wife Barbara.