The Italians
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Washington Post bestseller
Los Angeles Times bestseller
A vivid and surprising portrait of the Italian people from an admired foreign correspondent
How did a nation that spawned the Renaissance also produce the Mafia? And why does Italian have twelve words for coat hanger but none for hangover?
John Hooper’s entertaining and perceptive new book is the ideal companion for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Italy and the unique character of the Italians. Fifteen years as a foreign correspondent based in Rome have sharpened Hooper’s observations, and he looks at the facts that lie behind the stereotypes, shedding new light on everything from the Italians’ bewildering politics to their love of life and beauty. Hooper persuasively demonstrates the impact of geography, history, and tradition on many aspects of Italian life, including football and Freemasonry, sex, food, and opera. Brimming with the kind of fascinating—and often hilarious—insights unavailable in guidebooks, The Italians will surprise even the most die-hard Italophile.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British journalist Hooper (The New Spaniards) draws on his years of experience as a correspondent in Italy to produce a nuanced look at its national character. He begins by describing the history of the peninsula, along with the topographic and linguistic variety that distinguishes its various regions. Topics like politics and the economy recur throughout, while the Catholic Church, soccer, the Mafia, and food receive their own sections or chapters. Hooper ranges from important issues, such as the centrality of family and the treatment and role of women, to minor ones, like the national penchant for sunglasses. Hooper continually returns to Italian vocabulary to explain terms that have no direct English equivalent but which are central to life in Italy. He selects certain people as examples of specific traits, suggesting that Silvio Berlusconi, for instance, managed to weather so many political setbacks before being convicted of tax fraud, in part because he seemed to offer an ability much desired among Italians: that of doing quello che gli pare (whatever he likes). This is a fascinating study of the fundamentals and foibles of Italy's people.
