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Summary
Although dramatically reduced in Western and developed countries, maternal mortality is still today one of the most relevant social and health scourges in developing countries. This is the reason why high levels of maternal mortality are always interpreted as a sign of low living standards, ignorance, poverty and woman discrimination. Maternal mortality represents, therefore, a very peculiar characteristic of demographic systems of ancien regime. Despite this important role in demographic systems, no systematic study has been addressed to investigate the impact of maternal mortality in historical Italy. The aim of this article is to shed some light on such a phenomenon by investigating its trend over time and the determinants in some Italian populations between the 18th and the early 20th centuries. The analysis will make use of civil and parish registers linked together by means of nominative techniques, and it will be, therefore, carried out at the micro level.

Abstract
The Italian Communist Party created the most effective political school—and the only one in Italy—aimed at creating cadre leaders. The first schools were in Rome and Milan, and over the following decades the school system spread throughout the country, eventually counting about a hundred schools active throughout Italy until 1989.
The school in Rome, which was the only one to remain open for a further four years, was the main model for the others. Called the Frattocchie School, it was a residential school in the hills of Rome and was in operation from 1944 to 1993. The students attended classes from six months to a year; they studied historical materialism and the history of Bolshevism but also experienced collective life, group identity, and the theoretical and practical values of communism.
The Frattocchie model began with an initial period in which training consisted of the organization and acculturation of the working classes, starting with workers and peasants, according to a schema influenced by the Soviet schools but where the socializing bent of the Italian institutes mitigated the sectarianism and dogmatism of Moscow.
The aim of the training was to build the careers of future politicians capable of embodying the ideals of a party that demanded control, preparation, and discipline. For this reason, the Italian Communist Party schools represented an original example in teaching methods and curricula, handing down the memory of communism over time. The diaries, questionnaires, and testimonies of the students who attended the Frattocchie School in its 50 years of activity are important sources and a precious heritage to understand how the Communist "faith" became a vehicle of recognition and belonging. Even today the name Frattocchie is associated with a model of party school to be imitated in order to teach methods and principles to those who want to pursue a political career.

Among the foreign influences in the Balkans, the Italian one was probably the last to express itself, but certainly not the least important. From the early 19th century, the Italian national movement, and later the Italian kingdom, was first a source of inspiration, and then a potential ally; finally, it would become an economic and political rival for the Balkan nations. Yet, the history of the two shores of Adriatic evolved in similar if not identical stages. The Risorgimento ended in 1870 and most of the Balkan states won their independence in 1878. The liberal Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance, while the Balkan states opted in their turn for one alliance or the other among the Concert of European powers at the turn of the century. The World War I brought to an end the respective national unifications on both shores of Adriatic and set the stage for their conflict or – in some cases – their alliances, in view of their respective strategies during the interwar period. The brief and inconclusive Italian war in the Balkans (1940-1943) ended in utter defeat, and opened the way for a different type of relations between Italy led by Christian Democrats and communist (with the exception of Greece) Balkan states. Economy and culture were the basis of relations between Italy and the Balkans in the post World War II period. ; Special Editions 123. Institute for Balkan Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Request by Emmanuelle Morgan of the 20th Century Society to the Secretary of State, Stephen Byers MP, requesting government intervention into the planned demolition of the Liberty Building, Eastern Boulevard, Leicester. A Grade II listed building built 1918/9 which housed a shoe factory. The e-mail suggests that the building be used for residential use. An attached cutting from the Leicester Mercury shows the request was not met.

Freedom of Conscience and the Democratic Principles Reflected in the Evangelical Music of the 20th Century

'From the battle between V.I. Lenin and Woodrow Wilson to contemporary debates over Kosovo and other states in the making, the idea of "self-determination" has been as elusive as it is powerful. Augestad Knudsen's study of its trajectory is unprecedented not merely in its chronology leading almost up to our own times, but in its conceptual depth and subtlety, reminding us that the meaning of concepts emerges and evolves at pivotal moments in their history.' – Samuel Moyn, Professor of Jurisprudence, Yale Law School, Professor of History, Yale University, New Haven, USA 'This highly original book combines a history of events ("moments") with conceptual history. It is a significant contribution to understanding the politics and international law of a century: the century of national self-determination.' – John Breuilly, Emeritus Professor of Nationalism and Ethnicity, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London, UK This book shows how international discourse citing 'self-determination' over the last hundred years has functioned as a battleground between two ideas of freedom: a 'radical' idea of freedom, and a 'liberal-conservative' idea of freedom. The book examines each of the major moments in which 'self-determination' has been a central part of the language of high-level international politics and law: the early 20th century discourse of V.I. Lenin and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, the aftermath of the First World War and the formulation of the UN Charter, the 1950-1960s UN debates on 'self-determination', and the 2008-2010 International Court of Justice case on Kosovo's declaration of independence. At each of these moments in history, 'self-determination' was at the top of the international agenda. And at each moment, a fight over the meaning of freedom played out in 'self-determination' discourse. Besides providing insights into the historical times in which self-determination was prominently cited internationally, the book offers a recasting and renewal of international debates on freedom in international discourse. Rita Augestad Knudsen is a Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Security and Defence Group, Norway. She is the Managing Director of the Consortium for Research on Terrorism and International Crime.