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The Sack of Rome: Media + Money + Celebrity = Power = Silvio Berlusconi Paperback – July 31, 2007

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Alexander Stille (Author)
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Alexander Stille (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars 15 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (July 31, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0143112104
  • ISBN-13: 978-0143112105
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,145,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsIs this the Future of Democracy?
By L. Johnson on August 20, 2006
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I hope this is not the future of democracy becasue I find it scary to contemplate. A well written, hard-to-put down book that is not difficult to follow. I found the last chapter particularly interesting as it pertains to US politics.

Younger American readers who do not remember a less politicized media atmosphere may well wonder what the fuss is all about: Fox is the norm to them, and to many, the print media is a bastion of the left. If anything, the book reminds us that there is a difference between fact and opinion. A very timely read and, for those of us who love Italy, a very upsetting view of what politics in Italy has become.

The only fault I found with the book is some repetition from chapter to chapter with respect to examples/quotes, although this may be because the chapters could have been printed separately in various publications. Still a worthwhile read.
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4.0 out of 5 starsHopefully Not The Future of Democracy!
By Loyd Eskildson HALL OF FAME on July 17, 2006
Format: Hardcover
Silvio Berlusconi is Italy's richest man - the owner of its largest television and publishing empire, department stores, a national soccer team, and an insurance and financial services company. In the early 1990's he joined them together into a political machine to elect both a number of candidates to Parliament and himself to Prime Minister. Advertising executives contacted the companies that bought ads on his channels, his employee stockbrokers and insurance agents set to turning clients into supporters, the personnel department of his TV advertising company selected over 100 of its top salesmen to be candidates for parliament (they were also required to buy a special kit explaining his new party's program, as well as lessons on how to speak in public and on TV), and his TV media experts conducted focus groups to hone Berlusconi's message.

Another important act was starting thousands of "Go, Italy" clubs (the favorite chant of his soccer team fans) to "promote values of freedom and democracy.

Prior to initiating his political run Berlusconi had been a night-club singer in college, and then a real-estate developer. Bribes and shady deals (eg. promise that a development would only reach five stories in height, then hire the enforcement officer and immediately build out to eight; commission a biased environment report from supposedly disinterested parties; use a double-dealing attorney to take advantage of an absent young and distraught inheritor by

convincing her that low-ball amounts were appropriate and using a stock-swindle as payment; using political connections to reroute noisy airline landing paths from his holdings). In addition, his main aide was a strong and long-time Mafia connection.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsRequired reading for Americans and Italians alike.
By Enrico Ferorelli on July 28, 2006
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I recived the book from Amazon just a short while ago. I started it and could hardly put it down. What an incredible job Stille has done!

To make order and organize all the material, on this endless italian tragedy, must have been an Herculean task. The story is told with clarity and riveting

prose, with richness of facts and documentation and from a perspective that is historical and not detached, caring and profoundly analytical. This book is of great relevance not only for Italian readers but for Americans as well.

I agree with the author through the whole book and admire his work.

I thank him for it.
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5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent Reading on Berlusconi and Democracy in the Media Age
By Loves the View VINE VOICE on November 5, 2006
Format: Hardcover
Stille has put together a thought provoking book. Presaged by Orwell, the SB story defines the age we are living in, and those of us who care about democracy need to understand it.

To achieve his vast wealth, SB and his associates broke and skirted many laws. By selling himself through his monopolistic media empire (and the image of his new party named for his popular soccer team) in three months time, he achieved prosecutorial immunity by taking over the reins of government.

As Prime Minister, with most of Parliament on his personal payroll, SB effected the release all imprisoned for corruption. Ousted as PM, still powerful, SB got a law enabling witness to opt out of testifying. Back again as PM, a law whereby those accused can chose their prosecutors! This is no where near the tip of the iceberg!

Stille gives us a step by step of this rise and how he used the power he got to avoid prosecution for ever growing lists of crimes. He used the media to polarize the country and create crises. He cast his enemies as scum who hated him for his virtue & would destroy the country if given any power. By controlling the media he was able to discredit everyone who criticized the least thing about him. Each different media outlet (which he controlled, although he made them seem independent) echoed his point of view and made his distortions the conventional wisdom. Books, journals, and higher brow newpapers (permanance and nuance) being the province of the small group who knew about and could document his abuses of power, he discredited it as elitist. The many who spent 3-5 hours a day watching and glimpsing TV integrated the reality he fed them and believed his stories to be facts. He saw to it that the few journalists who might divulge his crimes would never work again.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsThe rise if not the fall

"In my three-hour interview, I was deeply struck by his unusual relationship with factual truth. Read more

Published 10 months ago by John L Murphy
4.0 out of 5 starsA Well Written and Well Researched Analysis of a Demagogue and...

If you want to read about a slick political sociopath this is your book. Berlesconi is a charming snake oil salesman without a conscience who ran for and won Italy's highest office... Read more

Published 12 months ago by shrinkucci
1.0 out of 5 starsEnough Stille

Don't waste your time. Very repetitive book (I get it, people who watched Berlusconi's TV channels voted for him, now please don't repeat that line 10+ times in the book) that I... Read more

Published 16 months ago by MH
1.0 out of 5 starsNeo-Castrati Manual for the Left

Stille is yet another of the Leftist, "Neo-Castrati" political movement. Traditional Italians would refer to Stille as, "Cornuto. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Marvelous Mal
5.0 out of 5 starsI <3 Silvii

I lived in Italy from 97-2005 I left because it was getting hard to live there. Silvio is a charming personality you love him even though you knew what he is. Read more

Published 20 months ago by lauri anderson
4.0 out of 5 starsAlexander Stille's triumph as a writer is to give the non-Italian...

I thoroughly enjoyed Alexander Stille's 'Sack of Rome' in the same way I did one of my all-time favorite books, Peter Robb's Midnight in Sicily: On Art, Food, History, Travel and... Read more

Published on August 25, 2013 by Andy Orrock
5.0 out of 5 starsIncredible piece of muckraking

Its often said that the most insightful works into a nation or a regime are authored by foreigners; first because foreigners can look at something objectively, and second because... Read more

Published on November 24, 2011 by Newton Ooi
1.0 out of 5 starsThe author should have talked to Italians.....

It's funny how the "Left" will go to any lengths to bury the "right". It seems to me that the author should have spent a little more time talking to the "average Italian", than... Read more

Published on August 19, 2008 by Cautiously Conservative
3.0 out of 5 starsan informative book despite an unnecessary rant at the end

Alexander Stille distinguished himself, as a hard hitting journalist, in his revealing, gruesomely titled book, "Excellent Cadavers," about the Mafia in Sicily leading to the... Read more

Published on February 5, 2008 by John E. Drury
5.0 out of 5 starsWell written, well annotated and balanced

Unlike several other well-known Berlusconi tomes, Stille's book is unusually balanced. Like the other books however, he is forced to rehash much biographical material and if you... Read more

Published on August 31, 2007 by John Harpur

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