Recent debates have used the concept of "transnational history" to broaden research on historical subjects that transcend national boundaries and encourage a shift away from official inter-state interactions to institutions, groups, and actors that have been obscured. This approach proves particularly fruitful for the dynamic field of global gender and women's history. By looking at the restless lives and work of women's activists in informal border-crossings, ephemeral NGOs, the lower management of established international organizations, and other global networks, this volume reflects the potential of a new perspective that allows for a more adequate analysis of transnational activities. By pointing out cultural hierarchies, the vicissitudes of translation and re-interpretation, and the ambiguity of intercultural exchange, this volume demonstrates the critical potential of transnational history. It allows us to see the limits of universalist and cosmopolitan claims so dear to many historical actors and historians.

How did family, relatives and friends grieve for the dead of the First World War? What were the forms in which the dead were remembered in families and local communities? How was death in action interpreted, and how were the bereaved comforted? The book deals with these questions using Italy as its exemplar. It takes as its sources the commemorative volumes which were widely published by middle-class families and their friends for individuals killed in action. They provide a unique testimony of how a oethe great seminal catastrophe of this centurya and the trauma of death in war were processed in the European middle classes.