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Midnight In Sicily: On Art, Feed, History, Travel and la Cosa Nostra | 
 enlarge | Author: Peter Robb
Publisher: Picador
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $8.93
You Save: $7.07 (44%)
New (23) Used (14) from $6.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  39 reviews
Sales Rank: 119364
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0312426844
Dewey Decimal Number: 914
EAN: 9780312426842
ASIN: 0312426844
Publication Date: November 27, 2007
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Product Description
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
From the author of M and A Death in Brazil comes Midnight in Sicily.
South of mainland Italy lies the island of Sicily, home to an ancient culture that--with its stark landscapes, glorious coastlines, and extraordinary treasure troves of art and archeology--has seduced travelers for centuries. But at the heart of the island's rare beauty is a network of violence and corruption that reaches into every corner of Sicilian life: Cosa Nostra, the Mafia. Peter Robb lived in southern Italy for over fourteen years and recounts its sensuous pleasures, its literature, politics, art, and crimes.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
 Superficial August 5, 2008
I bought this book after an Amazon's suggestion, and was looking forward for an overview of my country's history from the outside, but was disappointed.
I think it would be fair to say that Mr. Robb tries to set the stage for a review of the last 60 something years in Italy (and in particular Sicily) with the eye of the historian. Unfortunately he comes across as too politically charged to be successful in his intent.
When dealing with such recent history an historian can only do so much objectively, i.e. almost nothing. I felt the book is a partial view of Italy's politics, neatly divided between good and bad, with characters that are either a cross between a hero and a saint or between Satan and bluebeard. It hurts to see some of my heroes bunched together with opportunistic egomaniacs that did nothing to address the underlying problems and everything to work their own advantage. This might just be due to a difference in political views, but it makes you want to scream that yes, the facts might be somewhat there, but it is just half of the truth.
The most concrete indication of the futility of historic perspective on this topic is the fact that the book, published 12 years ago, feels already old. The exact opposite of Sciascia's writings on the mafia, that instead are current and actual as if they were written today.
I think the author's goal is admirable, but unfortunately the result is very simplistic, politicized and polemic, factious, barely scratching the surface, and ultimately reinforcing what everybody with more than a little experience on these matters thinks: outsiders don't know a thing.
The author tries to condense decades of the most complex interactions and dramatic events that have formed and plagued a nation whose dealings are already notoriously devious and complicated, into statements of right and wrong.
To the sensibility of an Italian (no, I can't generalize like this, let's say to my sensibility as an Italian) these statements are crude and naïve, it is no surprise that to my knowledge this book is not translated in Italian and that there seems to be no Italian reviewer on this site. No offense to all the people who consider themselves Italians, but I am using the term "Italian" here in the strict sense, i.e. somebody who has lived the facts narrated in this book in the first person.
I wonder if I am the only one feeling this way, or if there is anyone else who has listened to the telegiornale growing up, with all the news of maxiprocesso and pool antimafia and Falcone e Borsellino and mani pulite, who sympathizes with me.
 Madonna mia ... bravo! August 4, 2008
Great read ... informative and scary, the trips Robb takes the reader in and throughout the mezzogiorno made me hungry and thirsty and yearning for a six month vacation there ... the scary has to do with the Italian mob and how ruthless it was (is) ... Robb's wonderfully detailed overview of the history of the mob/Italian culture/government, etc. and how that cancer grew to a disproportionate mass is totally understandable within the context of this wonderful read. Bravo!
 Midnight in Sicily July 27, 2008
This is a very intricately and detailed story of the mafia in Sicily. If you like a quick read it is not for you: Enjoyable otherwise.
 A great book to read before a trip to southern Italy June 27, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book with pleasure and excitement. If you love Italy or are planning a trip to Sicily you need to get it In fact, jest read it, wherever you might be, maybe with a little glass of grappa.
Travel essays with a history of the Mafia February 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
What an odd book. A history of the Mafia mixed with fond travel essays. Would a history of the Mafia in Italy be too heavy without the travel essays? Maybe, but I would not have read it. Would a travel book about Naples and Sicily that ignored the Mafia be dishonest? Maybe, but I would have enjoyed this one a lot more without the Mafia history.
Would a travel book without maps or photos be frustrating to read? Yes. A history book without maps or photos or an index? Yes, frustrating.
I would not read it again. There is no one to whom I want to give the book. I would not recommend it to anyone who did not want to read a lot about the Mafia in Italy or Italian government after WWII. A student of small-time terrorism might like it. It was readable but not fun to read.
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