These new essays comprise a critical analysis of present-day crime fiction and nonfiction works set in Italy (all of which are available in English). The writers discussed range from Donna Leon and Michael Dibdin to Leonardo Sciascia and Andrea Camilleri. Essays also deal with nonfiction by Roberto Saviano and Douglas Preston. An emerging theme is the corruption of Italian police and judiciary officials and the frustration of officers and politicians trying to work ethically within a flawed system. Many of the works discussed show the struggle of the honest characters to find at least a limited justice for the victims.

An analysis of the relationship between detective fiction and its setting, this book is the most wide-ranging examination of the way in which Italian detective fiction in the last 20 years has become a means to articulate the changes in the social landscape of the country.

'Clear, cool, plainly written and devastating' Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Times Literary Supplement A major history of the rise and fall of Italian fascism: a dark tale of violence, ideals and a country at war. In the aftermath of the First World War, the seeds of fascism were sown in Italy. While the country reeled in shock, a new movement emerged from the chaos: one that preached hatred for politicians and love for the fatherland; one that promised to build a 'New Roman Empire', and make Italy a great power once again. Wearing black shirts and wielding guns, knives and truncheons, the proponents of fascism embraced a climate of violence and rampant masculinity. Led by Benito Mussolini, they would systematically destroy the organisations of the left, murdering and torturing anyone who got in their way. In Blood and Power, historian John Foot draws on decades of research to chart the turbulent years between 1915 and 1945, and beyond. Drawing widely from accounts of people across the political spectrum – fascists, anti-fascists, communists, anarchists, victims, perpetrators and bystanders – he tells the story of fascism and its legacy, which still, disturbingly, reverberates to this day.

VOLUME 4 IN THE BEST SELLING 'The Things Our Fathers Saw' SERIES (Up the Bloody Boot-The War in Italy) From the deserts of North Africa to the mountains of Italy, the men and women veterans of the Italian campaign open up about a war that was so brutal, news of it was downplayed at home. By the end of 2018, fewer than 400,000 of our WW II veterans will still be with us, out of the over 16 million who put on a uniform. But why is it that today, nobody seems to know these stories? This book should be a must-read in every high school in America. It is a very poignant look back at our greatest generation; maybe it will inspire the next one. Reviewer, Vol. I *Groundwood 38 lb eggshell b/w interior

These new essays comprise a critical analysis of present-day crime fiction and nonfiction works set in Italy (all of which are available in English). The writers discussed range from Donna Leon and Michael Dibdin to Leonardo Sciascia and Andrea Camilleri. Essays also deal with nonfiction by Roberto Saviano and Douglas Preston. An emerging theme is the corruption of Italian police and judiciary officials and the frustration of officers and politicians trying to work ethically within a flawed system. Many of the works discussed show the struggle of the honest characters to find at least a limited justice for the victims.

Richard Gambino, PhD, is the author of Vendetta. He lives in New York.

Amanda Knox spent four years in a foreign prison for a crime she did not commit, as seen in the Nexflix documentary Amanda Knox. In the fall of 2007, the 20-year-old college coed left Seattle to study abroad in Italy, but her life was shattered when her roommate was murdered in their apartment. After a controversial trial, Amanda was convicted and imprisoned. But in 2011, an appeals court overturned the decision and vacated the murder charge. Free at last, she returned home to the U.S., where she has remained silent, until now. Filled with details first recorded in the journals Knox kept while in Italy, Waiting to Be Heard is a remarkable story of innocence, resilience, and courage, and of one young woman’s hard-fought battle to overcome injustice and win the freedom she deserved. With intelligence, grace, and candor, Amanda Knox tells the full story of her harrowing ordeal in Italy—a labyrinthine nightmare of crime and punishment, innocence and vindication—and of the unwavering support of family and friends who tirelessly worked to help her win her freedom. Waiting to Be Heard includes 24 pages of color photographs.

MAFIA. CAMORRA. 'NDRANGHETA. The Sicilian mafia, known as Cosa Nostra, is far from being Italy's only dangerous criminal fraternity. The country hosts two other major mafias: the camorra from Naples; and, from the poor and isolated region of Calabria, the mysterious 'ndrangheta, which has now risen to become the most powerful mob group active today. Since they emerged, the mafias have all corrupted Italy's institutions, drastically curtailed the life-chances of its citizens, evaded justice, and set up their own self-interested meddling as an alternative to the courts. Yet each of these brotherhoods has its own methods, its own dark rituals, its own style of ferocity. Each is uniquely adapted to corrupt and exploit its own specific environment, as it collaborates with, learns from, and goes to war with the other mafias. Today, the shadow of organized crime hangs over a country racked by debt, political paralysis, and widespread corruption. The 'ndrangheta controls much of Europe's wholesale cocaine trade and, by some estimates, 3 percent of Italy's total GDP. Blood Brotherhoods traces the origins of this national malaise back to Italy's roots as a united country in the nineteenth century, and shows how political violence incubated underworld sects among the lemon groves of Palermo, the fetid slums of Naples, and the harsh mountain villages of Calabria. Blood Brotherhoods is a book of breathtaking ambition, tracing for the first time the interlocking story of all three mafias from their origins to the present day. John Dickie is recognized in Italy as one of the foremost historians of organized crime. In these pages, he blends archival detective work, passionate narrative, and shrewd analysis to bring a unique criminal ecosystem -- and the three terrifying criminal brotherhoods that have evolved within it -- to life on the page.

Blood in the Streets investigates the various ways in which 1970s Italian crime films were embedded in their immediate cultural and political contexts. The book analyses the emergence, proliferation and distribution of a range of popular film cycles (or filoni) - from conspiracy thrillers and vigilante films, to mafia and serial killer narratives - and examines what these reveal about their time and place. With industrial conditions geared around rapid production schedules and concentrated release patterns, the engagement in these films with both the contemporary political turmoil of 1970s Italy and the traumas of the nation's recent past offers a range of fascinating insights into the wider anxieties of this decade concerning the Second World War and its ongoing political aftermath.