The Red and the Black

Abstract

Since 1969 Italy has suffered through the worst epidemic of terrorist violence in the Western world. The extreme left and the extreme right have been involved in this violence, which remains a fundamentally mysterious phenomenon. Economic, political, and psychological theories, as well as theories of conspiracy, all fail to provide an adequate account of Italian terrorism. The author contends that Italy's culture of violence-that is, the long-standing intellectual tradition that seeks to make violence "photogenic"- has played a critical and generally ignored role in the Italian terrorism of our time.