Product Details
Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia

Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia
By John Dickie

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Product Description

The Italian-American mafia has its roots in a mysterious and powerful criminal network in Sicily. While the mythology of the mafia has been widely celebrated in American culture, the true origins of its rituals, laws, and methods have never actually been revealed. John Dickie uses startling new research to expose the secrets of the Sicilian mafia, providing a fascinating account that is more violent, frightening, and darkly comic than anything conceived in popular movies and novels. How did the Sicilian mafia begin? How did it achieve its powerful grip in Italy and America? How does it operate today? From the mafia's origins in the 1860s to its current tense relationship with the Berlusconi government, Cosa Nostra takes us to the inner sanctum where few have dared to go before. This is an important work of history and a revelation for anyone who ever wondered what it means to be "made" in the mob.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #64882 in eBooks
  • Published on: 2004-08-02
  • Released on: 2004-10-07
  • Format: Kindle Book
  • Number of items: 1

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The inspiration of far too much pulpy entertainment, the Italian mobsters under John Dickie's miscroscope in Cosa Nostra have long cultivated outsiders' tendencies to romanticize their supposed honor and loyalty. But Dickie demonstrates definitively that the centuries-old mafia has never been more than an illegal business and shadow state pursuing 'power and money by cultivating the art of killing people.'"--The Washington Post
"His is the first truly definitive English-language study of this myth-laden subject, and it is a pleasure to read...his book is notable for shrewd judgments couched in language that is vibrantly memorable. His acquaintance with the island and his immersion in the wider modern Italian culture also allow him to convey the noxious atmo-sphere of corruption with flair." -- Christopher Sylvester, The Sunday Times (London)

"A serious contribution to modern Italian history . . . it can be safely predicted that Dickie's book will be a sensation, not least because it has a dozen potential movies in it."--Clive James, Times Literary Supplement

"I couldn't put it down. His archival sleuthing is yoked to his powerful, often coruscating storytelling to create a chilling account of the mafia's sinister, horrific reality." --John Guy, The Sunday Times

"Absorbing . . . He succeeds in being both opinionated and precise and has performed a necessary work of rebranding." --Financial Times

"Riveting" --Sunday Telegraph

"Vibrant, muscular and highly readable." --Clare Longrigg, Guardian

"Lucid . . . grimly readable." --Daily Telegraph

"A brave work." --Mail on Sunday

"Highly readable . . . compelling. The narrative is entertaining and, at times, as chilling as the darkest crime fiction. It combines compelling horror with clear, rational analysis." --Glasgow Herald

"Cosa Nostra overflows with wonderful vignettes about mafia codes of conduct . . . engrossing." --John Naughton, 0 Word

"A fascinating book. Cosa Nostra combines scholarship with a rip-roaring read."
Sunday Herald

"Monumental and gripping." --Andrew Marr, BBC Radio 4's Start the Week

About the Author
John Dickie is a historian and journalist who has also worked as an ad copywriter. He lectures in Italian Studies at University College London and has written on many aspects of Italian life.

Customer Reviews

Fascinating, accurate look at a shadowy subject5
I couldn't put this book down. Mr. Dickie is careful to steer away from sensationalism, but the book is fascinating as well as factual. The author dispels certain myths associated with the Mafia, and gives a clearer view of an organization that has long tried to remain unseen. There is a lot of interesting Italian history included, which I really enjoyed since I have been living in Italy for several years now. From its first known beginnings, to the present, this book explains the history, the methods and the mentality of the Mafia. It is chilling, but it's a must read for those interested in the subject--and for those who think they aren't.

Educational4
My first mafia book. They way i see it, it provides the readers with a solid picture on what the Mafia is about.It is educational based on collective facts. Back to the basics i would call it. Sikelia as the mother land deserves much attention in the literature and this book is definitely going for that. The locus of attention is in situations from an old era but evidently their effect is manifest in various ways today. Good stuff

Excellent history of a little known world5
Compellingly drawn from original sources, this history reads almost like an insider's confession. Dickie tears away the cobwebs in Western mythology regarding the Sicilian mafia's history to present a credible, well-researched and well-presented picture of this secret but formidable player in Italian and subsequently American economics.

Films like "The Godfather" and others are the primary source of information for many American readers. While being a devoted history in its own right, this book occasionally draws parallels between the Coppola film to separate truth from fiction and probability from implausibility. Perhaps the only problem I had with the book was the heroic conclusion that after so many decades of almost untouched power, a recent series of judicial and political setbacks for the Sicilian mafia in 21st-century Italy might have effectively and permanently disabled the mob there.