This edition is a republication of Il rischio educativo, first published by Jaca Book in 1977 and republished in 1988 (Jaca Book), 1994 (in the second of the two volumes which brought together writings by the author published by Jaca Book; Opere 1966-1992. Vol. 2. Il rischio educativo, pp. 481-555) and in 1995 (in the volume of miscellaneous writings Il rischio educativo. Come creazione di personalità e di, SEI, 1995, pp. 3-56).

The Preface by Nikolaus Lobkowicz (2005, pp. 5-13) was written for the SEI edition (1995, pp. VII-XI), while the Introduction (2005, pp. 15-38), published in the SEI edition (1995, pp. XIII-XXV), is a revisitation of the address “Un esempio di comunicazione religiosa” delivered in Milan on 10 March 1995 on the occasion of the Religious Book Fair (excerpts from the Introduction published under the title Meglio educare che reprimere, in “Il Giornale”, 24 September 1995, p. 16 and Giussani, la sfida di educare, in “La Stampa”, 6 October 1995, p. 20).

Then follows “Il rischio educativo” in the same form in which it was published by SEI (“Parte prima. Il rischio educativo”, 1995, pp. 3-56), hence including the “Spunti introduttivi” (2005, pp. 41-64) written for the French edition (Le risque éducatif, Nouvelle Cité, 1986, pp. 7-25) and inserted in the new Italian edition of 1988 (“Spunti introduttivi per la nuova edizione”, in Il Rischio educativo, Jaca Book, 1988, pp. 9-29). The section “Tempi e contesti nell’attuazione di un metodo” (pp. 58-64), relative to this introductory section was also published in Realtà e giovinezza. La sfida (SEI, 1995, pp. 158-161) under the title “Ragione e compagnia”.

The first chapter “Dinamica e fattori dell’avvenimento educativo” (pp. 65-110) is the author’s revised and corrected edition of the text Adolescente, famiglia, scuola excerpted from the Enciclopedia dell’adolescenza (edited by A. Valsecchi, Editrice Queriniana, 1965, pp. 263-286), but it also draws on writings dating back to 1960.

Chapter III, “Struttura dell’esperienza” (pp. 126-132) is the text of the booklet L’esperienza (Gioventù Studentesca, 1963) written in reply to a letter from the then Cardinal of Milan G.B. Montini (already present in the 1977 and 1988 editions and republished in “Litterae Communionis-Tracce”, 4, 2002, insert). The section “L’esperienza cristiana” (points a, b, c; 2005, pp. 130-132) was also republished in “Appunti di metodo cristiano” in the section “L’incontro come esperienza” in the volume of miscellaneous writings Il cammino al vero è un’esperienza (SEI, 1995, pp. 97-98; first edition Appunti di metodo cristiano, Gioventù Studentesca, 1964, pp. 44-45).

For its republication by Rizzoli the text, quotations and notes were extensively revised: in particular, on page 126 an error present in all editions after the first was corrected: the words “Nota bene”, erroneously moved to the footnotes (Jaca Book, 1988, p. 95; SEI, 1995, p. 53), were restored to the text, where they had appeared in the Jaca Book edition of 1977 (p. 89).

Compared with the Jaca Book edition, the “Nota di edizione” in the 1977 volume (1977, pp. 9-12; 1988, pp. 33-35) and the part “Conversazione con Luigi Giussani” (1977, pp. 97-110; 1988, pp. 101-111) were omitted. Compared with the SEI edition, the parts titled “Viterbo 1977” (1995, pp. 57-94) and “Insistenza” were removed (1995, pp. 95-173).