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Bill Emmott

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Good Italy, Bad Italy: Why Italy Must Conquer Its Demons to Face the Future Hardcover – August 14, 2012

by Bill Emmott (Author)

4.2 14 ratings

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An original analysis of the war between the two opposing sides of Italy's national character

Not long ago Italy was Europe's highly touted emerging economy, a society that blended dynamism and super-fast growth with a lifestyle that was the envy of all. Now it is viewed as a major threat to the future of the Euro, indeed to the European Union as a whole. Italy's political system is shorn of credibility as it struggles to deal with huge public debts and anemic levels of economic growth. Young people are emigrating in droves, frustrated at the lack of opportunity, while older people stubbornly cling to their rights and privileges, fearful of an uncertain future.

In this lively, up-to-the-minute book, Bill Emmott explains how Italy sank to this low point, how Italians feel about it, and what can be done to return the country to more prosperous and more democratic times. With the aid of numerous personal interviews, Emmott analyzes "Bad Italy"—the land of disgraced Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, an inadequate justice system, an economy dominated by special interests and continuing corruption—against its contrasting foil "Good Italy," the home of enthusiastic entrepreneurs, truth-seeking journalists, and countless citizens determined to end mafia domination for good.

Review

“Travelers to Italy this summer may find economic catastrophe as omnipresent as monuments and sidewalk cafes, according to this former editor-in-chief of the Economist. Emmott’s breezy narrative provides a quick overview of the beleaguered Italian economy and sketches some background causes for its woes before offering glimpses of a brighter future.”—Publishers Weekly ― Publishers Weekly

“Display(s) rigorous research, clear-sighted analysis, and engaging, concise writing.”―Macleans ― Macleans

“Emmott writes clearly and succinctly.”―Foreign Affairs ― Foreign Affairs

About the Author

Bill Emmott was editor-in-chief of The Economist and is now a freelance commentator on international affairs. He divides his time between London and Somerset, UK.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Yale University Press
Publication date

August 14, 2012
Dimensions

5.75 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
ISBN-10

0300186304
ISBN-13

978-0300186307
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; Translation edition (August 14, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300186304
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300186307
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,182,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,318 in Political Economy
- #4,387 in Italian History (Books)
- #7,169 in Economic Conditions (Books)

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4.2 14 ratings

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Athan

Very informative, lovingly written

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2013

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I bought the book expecting it to read like one of those pull-outs from the middle of the Economist.

It doesn't.

This is a series of profiles of thriving Italian companies, institutions and initiatives. Large multinationals like Luxottica who sell every pair of premium sunglasses you've ever owned, less well-known successes such as Planeta wines who are transforming agriculture in Sicily, anti-mafia initiatives such as Addio Pizzo who are standing up to entrenched interests and the Egyptian museum in Turin that show us Italian institutions need not remain ossified. There are tens of institutions profiled here.

The twist is that the profiles are there with a purpose: to prove that there is hope for a country that has been in political, social and economic decline. The author spends a good hundred pages going through what's wrong in Italy today. Not just the stuff we all read about in the papers such as the high debt, the corrupt politics or the mafia and the black economy, but more fundamental issues: a justice system that was designed to provide innocent people a fair hearing but gets twisted into allowing crooks to avoid punishment; an electoral system that was designed and re-designed to provide strong leadership but has only brought chaos; labor laws that were designed and re-designed to guarantee good working conditions but have limited the size of corporations and kept the young out of work in the past decade.

It is within this context that all the companies are looked at, and it is all extremely convincing and lovingly written. Also, the author seems to have interviewed pretty much every Italian citizen who matters. The acknowledgment section reads like the who-is-who of Italy, with the one notable exception of Silvio Berlusconi, who apparently has two lawsuits pending against the author's previous employers at the Economist.

The story that wants to come out of here is that we all know what the problems are and people on the ground are doing amazing things despite them, with many of them actually doing good work to stop the rot. With that said, the book also contains a stern warning. The time to act is now. Italy cannot afford another botched reform like the one that was undertaken ca. 1992. This time it has to stick.

Fingers crossed, then!

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2012

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An outstanding and penetrating analysis of what ails contemporary Italy, and by implication much of the rest of the West. The demons that Mr Emmott describes are by no means unique to Italy, but more endemic and destructive in that country than elsewhere in the West outside of Southern Europe. There is much in this book that applies to the United States and we Americans would do well to heed the implicit warning. Thank you, Mr Emmott.

5 people found this helpful

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Samuel J. Sharp

Good Emmott, Bad Emmott

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2013

In "Good Italy, Bad Italy" former Economist editor-in-chief Bill Emmott travels around Italy speaking with ambitious, creative, and hopeful Italians to try and explain why Italy's economy has fallen so far behind its Western European rivals'. Emmott's primary contention is that Italy's potential for growth is stymied by political failure that saps the country of its otherwise prodigious energy and creativity. He cites and discusses a number of culprits: Silvio Berlusconi foremost among them, but also a bloated public sector, a glacially slow justice system, rigid labor laws, mafias, a non-competitive service sector, lackluster universities, and very low R&D spending. The result is a country with a huge public debt, a rapidly declining population, and a slow growing economy.

Emmott describes Italy's current condition through a mix of background reporting and short profiles of entrepreneurs, political reformers, and admirable businesses. Some anecdotes are particularly illustrative such as the reform of the Egyptian Museum in Turin which Emmott cites as an example of Italy's good side being freed to flourish from lethargic labor unions and government control. The example is undermined a bit though by the fact that the museum's transformational director is not an Italian, but a Greek-American.

While this book does an adequate job of painting a portrait of Italy's economic struggles over the last two decades, Emmott does not seem intimately familiar with the country. He compensates by frequently inserting Italian phrases where they are unnecessary, and by using the adjective "Dantean" in many metaphors. Despite this stylistic shortcomings, Emmott succeeds in objectively describing Italy's difficulties, and it will be interesting to see if his high hopes in Mario Monti are justified.

2 people found this helpful

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Michael V

some good content, but badly written and a chore to read

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2012

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I too was attracted by the author's role at The Economist, and by an interview with him on NPR. However, the book is disappointing. It was first written in Italian -- by the way, being able to write in Italian does not make one an expert on Italy -- and then translated into English. The translation is terrible -- for example, "The modern character of Italy's new democratic crisis is its mediatic nature ...". What the heck does "mediatic" mean? It's not in my dictionary. Apparently it means "media-centric" or something similar. But the sentence as a whole is poorly constructed; what does "modern character" refer to? Does the crisis have a character that is not modern? This may sound pedantic, but the reader is often required to do a lot of work to understand what the author is saying (and sometimes it's not really clear what that is). Many sentences are very long -- this is a feature of articles in Italian newspapers, but has no place in a book in English. By "long" I mean ten lines or more, phrase piled upon phrase, requiring much more effort to untangle than the content warrants. The author must be able to write clear, straightforward English -- he worked at a leading magazine for more than 25 years. It is a shame that he did not rewrite his own book in that straightforward way.

4 people found this helpful

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Lou

Very insightful, revelant

Reviewed in Canada on November 29, 2012

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I enjoyed his analysis greatly, and I can see that the Monti government is implementing some of the reforms this book deemed essential

Albert-amadeus

Un parere autorevole

Reviewed in Italy on March 19, 2013

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Una lettura amara sui guai irrisolti del nostro Paese nell'arco di oltre un ventennio di storia. L'autore, suggerisce anche delle possibili terapie ,ma purtroppo non c'è più sordo di chi non vuol sentire. un suo recente documentario realizzato con Annalisa Piras si chiama appunto :"girlfriend in a coma" un paese che deve essere sottoposto a terapia intensiva e subito.
Il libro ,recentissimo, purtroppo non si occupa dell' orizzonte politico che andava delineandosi sul finire del 2012 soprattutto con riferimento al movimento 5 stelle .Ritengo comunque che sia un libro assai valido che offre ottimi spunti di riflessione e che spero possa generare un moto POSITIVA reazione!

One person found this helpful

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Fiona Quigley

Interesting read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2013

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A great book providing us with an insight into the world of business and politics in Italy. Benefits /drawbacks to different business models are explained, giving us an understanding into current world of commerce .The historical reasons behind Italy's economic position in world trade today set the scene and are juxtaposed with examples of where the old mould is being broken to great effect

Ruth Pino

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on June 7, 2015

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Excellent gift for an Italian grandfather.

Anna

Good Italy bad Italy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2012

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Good read. Book reads like a narrative as opposed to an economic text. Some interesting equations between past present and possible future.