The Red Brigades: a 'fascinating insight' into the 'most feared' extremist group of 1970s Italy

A 'grimly absorbing' history of the group and their attempts to overthrow the Italian state

Book cover of The Red Brigades by John Foot
The Red Brigades by John Foot is 'superbly researched'
(Image credit: Bloomsbury Publishing)

"Throughout the 1970s, Italy was convulsed by a series of bomb attacks, political kidnappings and assassinations" carried out by left-wing terrorists, said Ian Thomson in the FT. Of the groups that operated during the anni di piombi ("years of lead"), the "most feared" was the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades), which "combined a Marxist-Leninist utopianism with a murderous disregard for human life".

During its "18-year reign of terror", the group killed around 75 people and maimed hundreds. Its highest-profile victim was former prime minister Aldo Moro, who was kidnapped in March 1978 and whose bullet-riddled body was found 55 days later in the boot of a Renault 4.

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