Description
This is a well-written, engaging book dealing with an important and widely discussed topic about which there is still little detailed work available in English: the historical evolution of Italian industrial districts or local and specialized networks of small- and medium-sized firms. Gaggio does a particularly fine job of showing how the variegated history of the Italian jewelry districts challenges Robert Putnam's celebrated account of social capital as the inherited foundation for local cooperation in the regions of northern Italy. -- Jonathan Zeitlin, University of Wisconsin, Madison This book is quite unusual and innovative in straddling different disciplines and approaches and making use of a variety of primary sources, including some novel archival ones. As such, it differs substantially from most other books on industrialization and industrial districts. The arguments are well made and well supported from the case studies and the work will be useful to economists, sociologists, social and economic historians, and social anthropologists. -- Anna Cento-Bull, University of Bath
About the Author
Dario Gaggio is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Michigan.
Reviews
"I hope this book will be widely read, not only by people interested in the Italian industrial districts but by all those who want to know more about the social dimension of markets."--Vera Zamagni, American Historical Review "Dario Gaggio's study of three Italian jewelry-making towns is a noteworthy contribution to the literature on Italy's postwar economic 'miracle'."--Tristan Kirvin, Continuity and Change "Dario Gaggio's book, In Gold We Trust, is the twentieth-century story of the important Italian industrial districts active in the manufacture of jewelry, and offers a significant and precious contribution to our understanding of the phenomenon."--Franco Amatori, Enterprise and Society "[T]his theoretically sophisticated, methodologically innovative, and empirically well-grounded study confidently challenges or complicates longstanding assumptions about the evolution of modern industry, structural analyses of social networks, and traditional narratives of successful or failed modernization on the Italian peninsula."--Anthony L. Cardoza, Technology and Culture "This is an interesting and well-written book, articulated over seven chapters and alternating between theory and historical narrative. Gaggio's use of oral history is an effective counterbalance to the drier archival material. Together, they provide a vivid picture of the multifaceted life of artisans, workers, and business owners in twentieth-century provincial Italy."--Francesca Carnevali, Business History Review
Book Information
ISBN 9780691126975
Author Dario Gaggio
Format Hardback
Page Count 352
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press
Weight(grams) 652g