The New Italians [Hardcover]

Charles Richards (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 1994

Generations of visitors to Italy have been seduced by the sensuality and vivaciousness of the people, by the great beauty of the landscape, by the glorious food and by the finest art treasures in the world. Italy is all of that, yet it also has a political class that is rotten to the core, and half the country is in thrall to organized crime. In this timely and perceptive portrait, Charles Richards looks at the Italy behind appearances. His authoritative study examines how Italy functions, how society binds the disparate parts and how the economy works. Charles Richards considers what it was both in the Italian system and in the Italians themselves, with their underdeveloped sense of individual responsibility, that permitted the ruling establishment to partake in the wholesale rape of the country. The book is both a celebration of the vitality and industriousness, elegance and good humour of the Italians, and a frank examination of their failings, of which no one gives a harder judgement than the Italians themselves. Charles Richards spoke to child kidnappers, Mafia judges, immigrant labourers and clergy in the front line against bandits in the North. Richards found Italy in a state of flux, with great uncertainty about the future. But his conclusion is that however serious a mess the Italians are in, they have an unrivalled capacity for making the most of any given predicament.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Michael Joseph Ltd (April 28, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0718136160
• ISBN-13: 978-0718136161
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,285,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent social portrait of modern Italy, July 23, 2005

By 

Ian Kaplan (Livermore, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The New Italians (Hardcover)

I can't imagine writing a book that would attempt to describe the modern United States. The country is so large and so different from region to region: the San Francisco Bay Area to Huntsville Alabama.

Italy is a far smaller country than the United States, both in geographical area and in population. But a book on Italian society can still only provide an impressionist sketch of Italy, which is complex in its own right. The New Italians by Charles Richards is just such an impressionist sketch. The book is well written and engaging, with the exception of the last chapters which I found dragged.

Richards writes of modern Italy, since the Second World War. He provides an interesting description of Italian attitudes, Italian politics and bureaucracy, which Richards describes as largely dysfunctional. His description of getting anything official done dovetails with the description in A Thousand Days in Venice of Ms. de Blasi and her fiance getting a marriage license (they only succeeded when her fiance lied to the official, telling her that Ms. de Blasi wrote for The New York Times and would write about how she could not get a marriage license).

After describing the dysfunctional nature of most Italian cities, Richards describes Bologna, a city run by reformed Communists which runs better than most cities in Italy. Bologna (which I'm planning to visit) seems to be a bit like Catalonia: a mix of socialism with an affection of the good things in life and the willingness to work hard for them.

There is a fairly long section on the various Italian Mafias (La Cosa Nostra of Sicily, the Camorra of Naples and the 'ndrangheta of Calabria). Richards covers the Italian Mafia because, like the cocaine cartels in Columbia, the Mafia has infiltrated Italian society, all the way up to some of the Prime Ministers, some allege. Better coverage of the Mafia and the courageous Sicilians who have fought it can be found in Excellent Cadavers by Alexander Stille.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little too cynical, May 21, 2007

By 

Anthony Iozzo (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: New Italians (Paperback)

This was an interesting and lively read. For those interested in learning more about the modern italians this is a good start.

The only problem I had with the book was that the author seemed to pessimistic and cynical about the italian nation. I have lived in Italy and yes it could be some what insecure, however there are many good aspects of italian life i thought the author overlooked.

For example his account on the region of Calabria focused only on organized crime. Yes this is a problem in the south, however I come from a Calabrian family and these people are perhaps the most loyal and hospitable in all Italy.