Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia

Review
"His is the first truly definitive English-language study of this myth-laden subject, and it is a pleasure to read...his book is notable for shrewd judgments couched in language that is vibrantly memorable. His acquaintance with the island and his immersion in the wider modern Italian culture also allow him to convey the noxious atmo-sphere of corruption with flair." -- Christopher Sylvester, The Sunday Times (London)

"A serious contribution to modern Italian history . . . it can be safely predicted that Dickie's book will be a sensation, not least because it has a dozen potential movies in it."--Clive James, Times Literary Supplement

"I couldn't put it down. His archival sleuthing is yoked to his powerful, often coruscating storytelling to create a chilling account of the mafia's sinister, horrific reality." --John Guy, The Sunday Times

"Absorbing . . . He succeeds in being both opinionated and precise and has performed a necessary work of rebranding." --Financial Times

"Riveting" --Sunday Telegraph

"Vibrant, muscular and highly readable." --Clare Longrigg, Guardian

"Lucid . . . grimly readable." --Daily Telegraph

"A brave work." --Mail on Sunday

"Highly readable . . . compelling. The narrative is entertaining and, at times, as chilling as the darkest crime fiction. It combines compelling horror with clear, rational analysis." --Glasgow Herald

"Cosa Nostra overflows with wonderful vignettes about mafia codes of conduct . . . engrossing." --John Naughton, Word

"A fascinating book. Cosa Nostra combines scholarship with a rip-roaring read."
Sunday Herald

"Monumental and gripping." --Andrew Marr, BBC Radio 4's Start the Week



Book Description
The Italian-American mafia has its roots in a mysterious and powerful criminal network in Sicily. While the mythology of the mafia has been widely celebrated in American culture, the true origins of its rituals, laws, and methods have never actually been revealed. John Dickie uses startling new research to expose the secrets of the Sicilian mafia, providing a fascinating account that is more violent, frightening, and darkly comic than anything conceived in popular movies and novels. How did the Sicilian mafia begin? How did it achieve its powerful grip in Italy and America? How does it operate today? From the mafia's origins in the 1860s to its current tense relationship with the Berlusconi government, Cosa Nostra takes us to the inner sanctum where few have dared to go before. This is an important work of history and a revelation for anyone who ever wondered what it means to be "made" in the mob.



About the Author
John Dickie is a historian and journalist who has also worked as an ad copywriter. He lectures in Italian Studies at University College London and has written on many aspects of Italian life.



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Journalist Dickie (Italian studies, University Coll., London) has written a fascinating history of the Mafia in Sicily from the 1860s through the early 21st century. Having emerged in and around Palermo during the troubled 1860s with the attempt to incorporate the island into the new Italian state, the Mafia gained increasing control over local government using threats and murder; by the 1870s, Sicilian politicians versed in the system had entered the central government. Mussolini moved to destroy the influences of the bosses during the 1920s and 1930s, but many escaped by emigrating to the United States, helping to build the American Mafia, which in turn helped reestablish the Mafia in Sicily at the end of World War II. Public outcry finally led to a crackdown during the 1990s. Drawing on interviews as well as secondary sources like newspaper articles, Dickie portrays the Mafia as containing elements of an illegal business, a sworn secret society, and a shadow state operating within the larger nation-state. This solid, scholarly contribution is broader and more accessible than Henner Hess's Mafia and Mafiosi: Origins, Power and Myth or Jane and Peter Schneide's Reversible Destiny: Mafia, Antimafia and the Struggle for Palermo. Recommended for all libraries.-Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Lib., Parkersburg Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.


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