This book investigates how the forced exile of Italian patriots following failed revolutions served as a primary catalyst for the development of Italian national identity and liberal ideology. Maurizio Isabella, a scholar of modern European history, utilizes a vast array of primary source writings from nineteenth-century émigrés to challenge the notion that Italian liberalism was isolated or underdeveloped. He argues that these exiles were active participants in a global intellectual network, effectively integrating Italian patriotism into the broader currents of European and transatlantic Liberalism and Romanticism. By analyzing these cross-border exchanges, the author demonstrates that the Risorgimento was not a localized phenomenon but a specific iteration of international political trends.

Historians and scholars of the Risorgimento frequently cite this work as a significant intervention that successfully moves Italian history away from a purely nationalist framework. Readers often note the academic rigor of the research, highlighting it as a necessary text for understanding the transnational nature of nineteenth-century political thought.