Areas of expertise: Modern Italian history; modern European history; Italian Risorgimento; Italian Fascism; historiography; difficult heritage
HDR Supervisor accreditation status: Full
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6363-4148
Phone: +61 2 9701 4587
Email: Nick.Carter@acu.edu.au
Location:ACU North Sydney Campus/ACU Strathfield Campus
Nick Carter is a specialist in nineteenth and twentieth century Italian history and historiography, including the Italian Risorgimento in transnational context and the 'difficult heritage' of Fascist monuments, monumental art and architecture in postwar Italy. Nick's interest in transnational history has also led to his current involvement as a Chief Investigator in the ARC Linkage Project 'Conviction Politics: The Convict Routes of Australian Democracy'. Nick has also researched and published on Britain's fraught relationship with the European Union.
Peer esteem markers: The Australian Journal of Politics and History hailed Nick's Modern Italy in Historical Perspective (2010) as an 'instant classic alongside works by [Richard] Bosworth, [Denis] Mack Smith and [Paul] Ginsborg.' His edited book, Britain, Ireland and the Italian Risorgimento (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) was described by Eugenio Biagini (Cambridge University) as an 'innovative, sophisticated and multi-dimensional reappraisal of some of the key aspects of this fascinating page of transnational history'. The leading historian of Italy, John A. Davis, considered Nick's opening chapter to the edited collection to be 'the best and most balanced current critical overview of the now extensive bodies of older and more recent literature'.
In 2019, Nick co-edited a special issue of Modern Italy on the difficult heritage of Fascism. Nick is also co-editor of a special section of the Journal of Contemporary History (forthcoming 2024).
Nick's research has been published in leading Anglophone history journals including the Journal of Contemporary History, the Historical Journal, Modern Italy, the Journal of Modern Italian Studies, and the Australian Journal of Politics and History. Nick has also been published in leading Italian-language history journals, including the Annali di storia dell'educazione e delle istituzioni scolastiche and Ricerche storiche.
Books
Edited books
Journal articles and book chapters (selected)
Nick is currently engaged on two major research projects:
After Mussolini: The Difficult Heritage and Architectural Legacy of Dictatorship in Italy.
Conviction Politics: The Convict Routes of Australian Democracy. Nick is a Chief Investigator on this international and multidisciplinary ARC Linkage project (2020-2024).
Nick has been interviewed in connection to his research on television and radio, including:
2023: Long form interview for Faculti (https://faculti.net/the-palazzo-della-civilta-italiana-and-the-difficult-heritage-of-fascism/).
2021: Interview with Corriere della Sera on Fascist heritage.
2020: Interviews on monuments with Seven Sunrise, ABC News, and ABC Sydney Radio; long form interview with Siobhán Moran-McFarlane, Eastside FM Radio (Sydney).
The Italian daily Corriere della Sera.