On June 23, 1858, in Bologna, a six-year-old Jewish boy, Edgardo Mortara, was removed from his family by order of church authorities. The parents' struggle for the return of their son quickly ceased to be an internal matter of the Jewish community and the problem of the Catholic hierarchy - the most influential people of their century, including Napoleon III and the Rothschilds, joined in - and played a role in weakening the Vatican and the unification of Italy. American historian, specialist in history In Italy, David Kertzer recreates the chronicle of a family against the background of the most important geopolitical changes in Europe. Plunging into the maelstrom of events of a turbulent era, the reader observes how the fate of one Jewish boy reflected the emergence of modern ideas about the individual and the state, civil solidarity and freedom of religion.