author
G. B. (Giovanni Battista) Nicolini
An Italian political activist, professor, and polemical writer, he is best remembered for anti-Jesuit and anti-papal works that circulated in the English-speaking world as well as in Italy. His writing grew out of the turbulent world of 19th-century liberal and nationalist debate.
1 Audiobook
History of the Jesuits: Their origin, progress, doctrines, and designs
by G. B. (Giovanni Battista) Nicolini
About the author
Born in 1805 and dying in 1877, Giovanni Battista Nicolini was an Anglo-Italian political activist and professor. Library and catalog records connect his name with works such as History of the Jesuits and reports tied to the ex-priest Alessandro Gavazzi, placing him in the middle of the religious and political controversies of his time.
Because his name is very close to that of the better-known poet and dramatist Giovanni Battista Niccolini (with two c's), the two are easy to confuse. The sources found for this profile point instead to Nicolini the activist and prose writer, not the playwright.
His surviving reputation today seems to rest mainly on historical and religious controversy rather than on fiction or poetry. Even so, his books remain useful for readers interested in 19th-century debates over the Catholic Church, Italian politics, and the wider liberal movements of the period.