Italy Books

Based on interviews with 29 businessmen and other economic agents in Palermo and parliamentary and trial sources, Professor Gambetta from Oxford University maintains that the Sicilian Mafia is a specific economic enterprise which produces, promotes, and sells private protection to businessmen, politicians, and the public at large. He attempts not to define Mafia as a network of corruption and collusion and tries to make sense of it in rational terms.

This book should be the most comprehensive account of how the Sicilian Mafia organised and offered protection services to different customers. Professor Gambetta suggests that the Sicilian Mafia plays a role as a lubricant in economic exchange, albeit in an erratic manner. He bases on his premise that survival of this private protection industry is due mainly to scarce and fragile trust in the society where no legitimate enforcement agency is available. Low-trust expectations between buyers and sellers can therefore generate demand for such protection services.

This book is divided into three main parts. Part I analyses general characteristics of the private protection industry. It is an industry that is managed with its peculiar requirements and constraints. As for the production and sale of protection services, the Sicilian Mafia requires certain resources including intelligence and secrecy, violence, and market reputation. What make the Sicilian Mafia different from other private firms is that they are more complicated in terms of customer retention, ownership, and manpower recruitment. For instance, the disappearance of a boss or when the boss is not available for whatever reason can increase the likelihood of internal challenge in ownership.

Part II of this book focuses on the origins and development of the Sicilian Mafia. Professor Gambetta maintains that endemic distrust, economic depression together with inept administration and erratic justice of the government can explain why the Mafia emerged in western Sicily. The Sicilian Mafia originated in prosperous agricultural areas and finally expanded their protection services to the city markets. Each mafia firm was organised within families and evidence reveals the existence of natural clusters amongst different mafia firms with the presence of the "commissione" system. Moreover, they have peculiar trademarks in terms of the ethnic origin of the members, the initiation ritual, and the brand name that distinguish them from outsiders. In Part III, Professor Gambetta undertakes an empirical description of the industry's product including diverse types of contract, protection, and payment plans offered to customers. They tempt to utilise collusive maneuvering in order to protect themselves from rival competition. It takes a variety of forms, ranging from dividing territory, taking turns, to sharing customers in orderly and disordered markets.

Professor Gambetta believes that if the Italian government chooses to deliver genuine protection to the public by initiating political reform at both the practical and the theoretical level, the demise of Mafia's protection industry will certainly be conceivable and possible in the future. All in all, this book is relevant to readers who are interested in criminology and social institution. Readers can also make access to http://www.exlegi.ox.ac.uk/Gambetta%20Dataset%20Welcome.html to download a dataset complied by Professor Gambetta that contains court files and confessions of Mafiosi who turned state witness, including the autobiographical book by an anonymous Mafioso.

What exactly is a mafia? What type of underworld association may rightfully assume the title? Can any criminal group organized along ethnic lines qualify? The answer is "No" according to Diego Gambetta. He argues that criminal activity and ethnicity alone do not justify use of the term; and the popularly held concept about what constitutes a mafia is based on broad assumption, and contains inaccuracies. Gambetta traces the social and economic origins of this much dramatized organization from the 1800s to the present. He establishes authenticity according to a more exacting set of criteria, and explains how the mafia is more than a collection of "clever psychopaths." It is an industry specializing in protection; a group of firms that possess `recognizable trademarks,' `means of identifying legitimate members;' and is successful in `thwarting imposters.' Not every group, therefore, may rightfully be designated as "mafia."

Gambetta documents extensively the history and facts surrounding one of the most successful crime cartels in history, and delves into its myths and mysteries. His account of the creation of such words as mafia, a literary creation actually applied externally, is illuminating. One source he quotes, Leopold Franchetti, reveals the label was originally applied to "a class of violent criminals ready and waiting for a name to define them." Upon reflection, the reader then imagines more examples of `externally applied' definitions: political parties are exceptionally good at conjuring up choice names for their opponents. I strongly doubt that the master of Hell bestowed the title, "Prince of Darkness" on himself. Even the sobriquet "G-men" was first created for the FBI, the mafia's unrelenting foe, by notorious gangster Machine Gun Kelly.

"The Sicilian Mafia" is excellent reading and a superb source of reference. It is marvelously objective in providing information, extensive examination and insightful, in-depth analysis, as it explores the phenomenon of modern-day, organized crime society.

The book is wonderful, and gave me everything I needed to be able to communicate in Sicily. Megghiu infurmazioni! The seller was quick, responsive, and a true Amazon asset.

This is great - until recently I could only find Italian/English. I am very pleased.

If you've never been to Sicily it is very difficult that anyone will ever be able to describe the incredible sensations that the wonderful Italian island can grant. "Sicily" is as near you will be able to get, without having to pay the transcontinental flight to Italy. Mount Etna, the lakes of Tindari, the sea off Acitrezza, the Island-Vuclano of Stromboli, are depicted in all their splendor of colors and unique sensations by this very talented photographer. But "Sicily" does not only regard landscapes, you will see the "siciliani", meet their gazing eyes, see them work, have experience of their festivities. Sometimes you'll have the sensation of being in a time-machine, jumping back to the beginning of the 20th century. Buy the book, and the day after you'll be on a flight directed to Italy, guaranteed.

This book was so well photographed that I felt like I was actually there looking out my window at the images portrayed in the book. It provided a very interesting viewpoint of the photographers camera eye, and illustrated a sense of everyday existence of the citizens of Italy's famous isle. I hope to make my own visit to Sicily someday and see the same perspective that the authors had seen....as well as sample some of the fantastic foods.

My wife and I bought the Klimt book as a gift for a friend. Both my wife and I were delighted with the book and its lustrous presentation. We plan to buy four more for four other friends.

This is a beautiful book. It is geared toward older children, but the presentation and photo quality will make any adult take a second look. Klimt's work is often characterized by the use of gold leaf -- this book actually prints the paintings so that they have a gold surface. Each page discusses an aspect of Klimt's life or work-- his relationship with Emile Floge, his travels to Italy, his Beethoven Frieze, etc. The background of each page is beautifully decorated to correspond with the information and photographs.

I have several other books of Klimt's work-- this one has the best overview of his life and work, best reproductions, and by far my favorite in terms of how it presented the information. It is only 30 pages, but is truly a gem of a book.

If you are interested in art history or art in general, I also recommend the other Adventures in Art books, particulary the one on Van Gogh. The presentation is very similar to the Klimt book.

The Simple Peace of St. Francis of Assisi is remarkable because it actually catches the heart of this incredible saint, his spiritual development, his formation from troubadour to holiness. I strongly suggest this book for anyone who enjoys books about spiritual transformation or St. Francis. You can actually feel St. Francis as his heart widens and grows into perfect joy!

St. Francis is almost untouchable as a saint. His miracles, his link to the common person and his love of animals (all God's creatures) makes him a hugely popular and well-loved saint. This book allowed me to get beyond all the hype and other worldliness of St. Francis. It took me to his heart and let me feel what he felt as his spiritual journey evolved. His love for God and the world was huge.

I now know that St. Francis is most like us, the most human of all the saints. He lived beyond the average but he loved the simpleness and ugliness of life. This book does not ram religion down your throat and it does not put St. Francis on a pedestal that is unreachable. It puts his heart and mind in focus and attempts to give the reader a view of Francis as a friend might see him today.

Wonderfully rich and full of spirituality. You will feel closer to the saint no matter what other books you have read on his life.

This book(let) is truly beautiful. The prints are lovely and the narrative instructive. Sofonisba is discovered at last for the artist she was.

Simply put, this is the BEST book about Sofonisba on the market. The prints are clear, crisp and colorful. The bio is outstanding.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, July 24, 2005

Solitude And Other Stories by Arturo Vivante University of Notre Dame Press: 202 pp., $35 cloth, $16.50 paper

By Merrill Joan Gerber, Merrill Joan Gerber is the author of "This Is a Voice From Your Past: New and Selected Stories" and "Glimmering Girls: A Novel of the Fifties."

Unlike Chekhov, who called medicine his lawful wife and literature his mistress, Arturo Vivante gave up medicine entirely when, as a young doctor in Rome, he began to sell his stories to the New Yorker and decided writing was his true calling. Both professions require attention to the dimensions of suffering and pain, although Vivante seems to have been drawn more to the pain of the psyche than to the pain of the body. In "Solitude, and Other Stories," Vivante muses on the essential loneliness of our human existence and our yearning for connection. He describes with delicacy and passion those precious moments when we reach out to another person, or, in some cases, to another creature of nature, and there is a vivid response.

Many of the tales in "Solitude" are narrated by an itinerant professor who, like Vivante himself, travels far from home to teach at colleges across the United States. In "The Cricket," the professor is alone in a college-owned house where there is no other creature but a cricket. He is attuned to the cricket's noises; he comes to depend on the sound and its variations. "The shrill, piercing note had a ubiquitous quality. It filled the room the way its companions outdoors filled the night. The only difference was that outside a choir was playing; this was a solo. And his only company. Playing for him." When another professor arrives and in total indifference stomps on the cricket, the narrator is horrified.

In "Reflection," a middle-aged man admires the beautiful hair of a young woman sitting in front of him on a train. He recalls how his wife has criticized him for his interest in young women, and his daughter once called him a fool for admiring, at a funeral, a girl with "a magnificent shock of red hair." He thinks: "Why should one ignore beauty at whatever age, of whatever age, and anywhere, anytime, even at a funeral service?"

"Crosscurrents" describes a man who is low in spirits and without energy but longs to engage in life. Set in Cape Cod, where Vivante has lived for many years, the man lies in bed and feels the wind beckon him to go sailing. "But still he lay, anchored by a sense of inertia and dejection to the bed." When finally he goes out to sail, "[h]e felt more alive in this shaky old boat than in the safety of his bed. Did speed, instability, danger make one more aware of life than stillness, security, safety? If so ... sail out into the open sea. Yes, leave all sluggishness behind."

Vivante is a master of capturing the essence of a moment. In "Doves" he describes the courtship of two pigeons, "their iridescent plumage glorious in the sun ... their beaks joined as in a kiss.... Then she stood still and crouched while he hopped behind her .... The union lasted no more than a few seconds, but in that time, hidden by the softness of their plumes, in momentary darkness, the fluid of love and life was duly transmitted."

Love is a primary force in these stories, although not necessarily the love of a man and his wife. Often, the man, far from home, seeks the comfort of an available woman. In "Osage Orange," the narrator thinks of a line from a novel: "I've never had anything approaching a successful love affair," and he remembers a night he spent with a woman ­ "It had been no affair. It had been merely a night ­ not even a whole night.... Later, in the extreme moment of passion, she gave a cry that seemed to him to fill not just the room and house but the whole town, and to go out like a wave ... it was a cry, he thought, 'such as made the world in the beginning,' primeval, belonging to no time and to all time."

In "Company," the traveling man comes home for a weekend to see his wife, although "[h]er visits to his bedroom became rarer and rarer, till, some ten years ago, they stopped altogether." He finds his wife petting the cat and he longs to be petted by her in so tender a way. She rejects him and says, "Well, you wanted it this way ... you and all your girlfriends." "What girlfriends?" he asks, but so faintly that she doesn't reply.

Vivante's stories shine with intensity and passion; they tell the stories of the human heart in prose that is lyrical and luminous. Though he has sold 70 stories to the New Yorker and published two novels, his work has not brought him the recognition it should have. In "The Italian Class," the teacher muses, "Why publish or write? Why try to make a work of art of words, notes, colors or clay?" Perhaps the art evident in these stories can help explain why. *

Solitude and Other Stories by Arturo Vivante

Vivante, a master story teller, his tales often thinly disguised autobiography
are set in Italy, the U.S and in Canada; some were published in The New Yorker Magazine and other places but never before collected into a book. I had not read them before. His stories are tightly constructed little gems to be read for the pleasure of language, theme and what I think of as set up. I love the way he introduces each story with interesting information about for example, the catamaran, the making of maple syrup, the beauty of older women, but until the end one doesn't learn why we needed to know. Vivante's stories are instructive for any would-be writer of short stories and lover of fine literature. I'm reading them for a second time.

I'm reading this now, savouring it, allowing one story a day. The stories are gems, polished without feeling workshopped, elegant without seeming traditional, classics yet not stodgy. Spencer's understanding of the nuances of class are superb, and her settings are evocative, rich and compelling. I've read little Southern fiction and spent even less time below the Mason-Dixon line, but these stories still seem real to me, important, touching and relevant. Highly recommended.

Elizabeth Spencer's short stories are elegantly written and filled with moments of delicacy and insight. "Ship of Fools," written many years ago, retains a freshness in its youthful protagonist's perceptions, while her best-known work, "Light in the Piazza," takes the reader into an ethereal, long-lost but bewitching Italian setting. As piercing as her insights into human dynamics is her ability to capture a peculiar quality of light or the dreamy interior world of her many characters. Spencer expertly juxtaposes passages of apparently random stream-of-consciousness with exchanges between men and women that illustrate the kinds of tangled relationships we all make and encounter in daily life. There's never just surface events taking place in Spencer's fiction; much is constantly going on beneath the surface, which for me generates the kind of depth found only in the very best fiction. I strongly recommend her work to readers looking for prose that can be read and re-read, savored and enjoyed, many times over.

About a year ago I discovered the Book "Under The Tuscan Sun". I
loved that book and the books by Frances Mayes that followed.
Since than I had been looking for a new book about Tuscany.
Reading "Starting With Tuscany" was very different from "Under
The Tuscan Sun" but had the same wonderful characteristics. The
writing is beautiful, visual, and interesting. This story is
both funny and sad. The author is an architect/artist and the
book was like a very complicated/beautiful painting. Every chapter was captivating. I loved the time I spent with this author.

The best storytellers make you forget you're being told a story. Your conscious thoughts disappear, you are absorbed into the mental picture the author is describing, and it's as if you are the proverbial "fly on the wall," witnessing the events and even feeling as though you are a participant. Giovanna Peel wields such a powerful pen in her evocative, absorbing memoir, Starting With Tuscany, that the story achieves more than just that of a travelogue, where the reader vicariously visits a foreign or previously-untasted locale, and instead remarkably transforms the reader into a relative, a playmate, or a neighbor of Ms. Peel's childhood in Tuscany.

The book weaves a narrative of Ms. Peel's first trip back to her native Florence and the surrounding region known as Tuscany since she left it as a young woman. Ms. Peel, who describes herself as the black sheep of her large, prototypically colorful Tuscan family, had moved to Canada where lived in self-imposed exile for thirty years. She begins the trip home with a side trip to Provence with two friends, sort of a warm-up and re-acclimation to European ways before they continue on to Florence, Sienna, and other smaller towns in Tuscany. The trip to Provence fills in some of Ms. Peel's background and foreshadows the fears she has about returning to her native Italy. With her companions in tow, she is the apologetic European, trying to ease their path and explain away different customs and attitudes in order to save her friends discomfort and prevent cultural bias or confusion. In her own mind, she fails miserably, and indeed she seems to derive little pleasure from her sojourn in Provence.

Her transition to Italy fares no better, and Ms. Peel's discomfort increases as she mentally tries to apologize for the idiosyncratic ways of her fellow countrymen, while at the same time unwillingly resurrecting a grudging sense of national pride and even a reluctant tolerance or acceptance of the reasons for such ways. When her friends finally leave her alone in Italy, the introspective aspect of the narrative deepens and her enchanting reminiscences fill in the pages of her life. One learns that her father was a German Communist Jew who was persecuted by the Italian government and arrested with regularity. Her mother, with whom Ms. Peel was in constant conflict, had not enough love to go around after caring for her politically-dangerous and amorously-philandering husband and Ms. Peel's older sister. The tenement in which they lived was meager and sparse in furnishing, but lively with eccentric and deliciously strange neighbors, whom Ms. Peel describes in fascinating detail.

Formative experiences from Ms. Peel's life include her consignment to an orphanage as a young girl to protect her from her father's tuberculosis; the abduction of her father by German officials and his presumed death at their hands; and the arrival of a girl whom her father hired ostensibly as a servant but in reality as a concubine and the ensuing clash of wills between her mother and father. Even more influential to Ms. Peel's feelings of alienation were the constant reminders her mother rained down upon her that she was ugly, untruthful, strange, and unlovable. Herein lies the crux of Ms. Peel's pilgrimage back to her old stomping grounds. She has mixed emotions about her past and wonders whether coming to terms with her black sheep, ex-patriot status will bring her peace of mind or merely subsume her true identity.

Unless one is a celebrity, it takes a certain amount of hubris and ego to write an autobiography. Ms. Peel is an artist of some repute in Canada, but this is not the interesting part of her tale and she modestly dwells on it not at all. Nor is the narration of the events of her first trip back to Tuscany, which she seems to have enjoyed minimally, the reason she wrote this book. Rather, her justification for writing an autobiography is not only an interesting childhood set in an evocative locale, but also her ability to tell a damned good story. This is not to detract, however, from Ms. Peel's considerable ability to paint with words a landscape. But the emphasis is on the events of her childhood. Those expecting simply a description of regional customs may be disappointed, but readers who value a well-told story are in for an enjoyable read.

This is great book, full scale color pictures. great historical information of vintage switchblades knives from italy.
highly recommended.

The serious collector as well as the curious automatic knife buyer will find this author's work to be extensive on the subject of Italian Automatic Knives. With 128 pages, including high resolution photography of "tang stamps," this title covers topics ranging from the evolution of the automatic knife in Italian production to the ignoble standing this type of cutlery has been labeled with by the media over the years. Detailed information on specific manufacturers and the history of these companies give the reader specific information that is not easily found elsewhere, proving this book to be an invaluable source of information for the collector seeking to authenticate rare Italian Stilettos. A must for the knife collector or dealer.