Elsa Morante’s La Storia (History, A Novel), is a towering example of literature’s power to convey the unraveling and emotional impact of historical events. Specifically, it is the literary work that among much else best describes the effects of the Race Laws on daily life in Rome. What follows is a schematic mapping of topics in the novel, meant as an invitation to read or re-read it, 44 years after its publication, on the 80th anniversary of Mussolini’s Race Laws.
