Giuseppe Ciucci

Teaching Freedom

Starting in the early 1900s, male and female elementary schoolteachers in Italy gained increasing awareness of the role of social workers in the fight against illiteracy and in creating civic consciousness based on widespread, qualified education. In 1900, the Unione Magistrale (the Teachers Association) was founded; in 1919, the Sindacato Magistrale (the Italian Teachers Union, a member of the General Confederation of Labor) was created. Inevitably, some of these teachers, firmly convinced of their duty, opposed fascism which, from the moment it originated, aimed at creating obedient boys who were loyal to fascist doctrine and trained in warfare, and girls ready to become the mothers and wives of soldiers. These teachers resisted in the most diverse ways. Some were forced to abandon teaching, a number of them were killed by fascist violence, but others were able to navigate the restrictions imposed on them by the regime. In Teaching Freedom, the author reconstructs twelve biographies of these teachers, based on unpublished material and archive documents, in a form of research suspended between history and pedagogy. The chronological order of the stories retraces the way fascism progressively seized power, suffocating all forms of freedom of expression. Moreover, the study of newly-found documents and various testimonies show the teachers' ceaseless invention of alternative teaching strategies.

Fortunes

A handful of Afrikaners have risen to the very top of the business world in South Africa in the past three decades, some of them now dollar billionaires with vast global business interests. With Koos Bekker at its helm, media group Naspers grew to dominate the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and was transformed into a global consumer internet group. Johann Rupert boldly extended Richemont's share in the upper-end market of luxury goods, while Christo Wiese and Whitey Basson at Pepkor and Shoprite became Africa's largest clothing and food retailers. Based predominantly on personal interviews, Fortunes reveals why individuals such as Jannie Mouton, Michiel le Roux, Douw Steyn, Johan van Zyl, GT Ferreira, Hendrik du Toit, and several commercial farmers, turn whatever they touch to gold. Work ethic, astute alliances and an appetite for risk have catapulted them to great heights. The rise of the Afrikaner super-rich has coincided with the government's black economic empowerment programme, making it one of the unexpected features of the South African economy today. Fortunes is an unrivalled work that explains who these tycoons are, how they built their empires and how the sensational collapse of Steinhoff International, led by Markus Jooste, almost destroyed some of their fortunes. The book boldly interrogates their spirit of enterprise, faults and follies, but also their vast philanthropic contributions to the country.

Italians to America: Passengers arriving at New York November 1890-December 1891