Customer Reviews

Between Salt Water and Holy Water: A History of Southern Italy

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Let's not confuse this work with pop histories or superficial glosses of history. This beautifully designed scholarly book is a highly detailed telling of what southern Italy has endured in the past 2000+ years. The story is quite complex. Lots of peoples have wanted to conquer this territory, for its grain, for its beauty, for its shores, and for its resources. Arabs, Spaniards, Germans, Greeks, and Normans have all left their footprints in the rich soil, and if one visits, one can still witness traces of this varied history there. To unravel all the kings, queens, barons, dukes, religious influences, cultural influences, and economic upturns and downturns is an undertaking requiring the reader's patience and quiet contemplation. The author, Tommaso Astarita, has done an excellent job in giving us the details. After reading this book, one can never quite think of this beautiful region in the same way again. Rather, as any good history does, this work changes our perception of the landscape, and we now remember and visualize its long struggles, the blood that's been shed, the plagues that have come and gone, and the hard endurance of its people. If you are not prepared to immerse yourself in scholarly details and complex writing, this book isn't for you. But if you want to truly understand southern Italy's history, you've come to the right place.

I was born in southern Italy so I was interested in this book because part of its title is "A History of Southern Italy". But it is far more accurate to describe it as a history of Naples with a few skimpy references to areas south of Naples to Messina. Naples is the heart and soul of this book, but then what can one expect of its writer who is described on the inside jacket as "Native Neopolitan". His love of Naples and its history is evident throughout. There is hardly a page where there's not endless mentions of Naples. For example, between p.268 and p.273 there are 33 mentions of "Naples" and "Neopolitan". Naples is not Southern Italy and Southern Italy is not Naples. If you are looking for a book on "A History of Southern Italy" this is not the book.

I have been so delighted with this book I have nearly worn out the cover reading and rereading it. Until this book and another by a different author came out during the same year (2005) there was practically nothing meaningful about the history and development of Southern Italy available in English. This author has integrated the history, culture,art, music, literature of the region and sprinkled it with charming details and insights. This is not a travel guide or a book to be picked up lightly, but anyone interested in learning about that particular region of Italy will be well-served by this text. I have given it as a gift and consider it among my favorites.

Tommaso Astarita's work on Southern Italian history was a joy to encounter. Astarita untangles the web of influences on the history of this region in a way I had not anticipated, and it was enlightening page by page. I believe it will prove to be the definitive narrative of this region's history. Nobody has come near Astarita's expertise in bringing it all together.

I am so glad this book and author were recommended to me by an Italian acquaintance. The endnotes provide an avenue for further research, and reveal the careful scholarship of Tomasso Astarita. He weaves the stories of specific events in an anecdotal style throughout the information about the broader history, and I found it a fascinating book. No, it is not pop history, but for a scholarly book it was not a difficult read. I'm very glad to have it in my library!

Focusing on Naples and Sicily, this evocatively named short history provides a lucid and graceful study of complicated history. There were lovely nuggets of fact, too, the relationship of the Bronte family to a town in Southern Italy and Lord Nelson's ties to both; a bit about Southern Italian literature and letters and Neapolitan song.

This book is not for those who read for enjoyment, or who want to read a balanced history of Southern Italy. It is packed full of historical names and dates that run together and are presented in such a random way that it is impossible for the casual reader to figure out what is going on. The first few chapters (which I have not been able to get past) are filled with (98%) dry historical data (names/dates - mostly of the rulers)which are repeated too often, and in such a random and confusing way that it's difficult if not impossible to clearly understand what is going on. There is only a sprinkling (2%) of information about the economy and culture of the general population of the times (which was the real reason I bought the book). This book is not written well, even as history. It ignores completely the times before the year 1000, and spends far too much time on the first few hundred years after. It's just too much work and does not hold my interest. I am glad I read it BEFORE I gave it as a gift to my Southern Italian friend. I'll have to look for something else and just mark this off as a waste of money.

This was a book to start learn more of the traditions, history, and politics which shaped the character of the Southern Italian people. Remeber that this is a history book, so at times it's not an easy read. But as it is difficult to find detailed information about Southern Italy, this provides some useful data. The focus is mainly on Naples and Sicily and only gives glimpses of other areas (Calabria, Puglia, etc.).