The Shortest History of Italy

"If you like Italy and history, one book that’s a lot of fun is The Shortest History of Italy , by Ross King, author of Brunelleschi’s Dome . In 234 pages, it covers the entire history from Aeneas’s mythical arrival and the founding of Rome to the present. It’s really satisfying to have Italy’s history told as a whole rather than the Roman Empire/ Renaissance / Risorgimento etc. as separate history books . While we’re on the subject of short nonfiction books encapsulating vast swathes of knowledge in a couple of hundred pages, there’s a new book in the Little Histories series (inspired by Ernest Gombrich’s classic A Little History of the World , aimed at young adults). A Little History of Psychology by British psychologist Nicky Hayes takes psychology from its study under the Greeks to the present. In the Shortest History series economist Ian Goldin takes on migration ."