Sublime yet exasperating, fascinating yet baffling, Italy is a country of riddles. Looking beyond the stereotypes, John Hooper's entertaining and incisive account of its people explores everything from sex to Freemasonry,bella figurato why Italian has thirteen words for a coat hanger yet none for a hangover.
John Hooper is Italy correspondent of the Economist and Southern Europe Editor of the Guardian and Observer. The Italians is the fruit of more than fifteen years based in Italy.
What's not to love? A thoroughly researched, well-written, ageless
narrative of a fascinating people
*Kirkus*
Thanks to his great curiosity, his splendid comparative and
analytical perspective, and a fine eye for telling details, John
Hooper gets under the skin of a fascinating people in a remarkable
and compelling way
*Bill Emmott*
John Hooper is a supremely able and experienced foreign
correspondent who has mastered a particular subgenre of his craft:
the detailed and comprehensive study of individual countries... an
admirable piece of work, unassuming but authoritative. If Hooper
really were a diplomat instead of a reporter, it would surely earn
him his knighthood
*Literary Review*
John Hooper refuses to succumb to easy cliche while explaining the
best and worst of Italy. Mixing the amusing titbit with the big
picture, he provides context for the question that perplexes the
occasional visitor: how come a country that has produced
Berlusconi, "bunga bunga" parties, the mafia and an extraordinary
bureaucracy is still so attractive?
*The Guardian*
Hooper has written a fascinating, affectionate and well-researched
study that delivers the tantalising flavour of a country as hot,
cold, bitter and sweet as an affogato
*The Telegraph*
An amusing and engrossing account of a thoroughly irresponsible
nation
*The Independent*
Italy remains the most fascinating of countries, often perplexing
and yet always engaging. Hooper does it justice. People who don't
know Italy will find this book a splendid introduction. Those who
know and love the country will find much that is new as well as
familiar, much that will have them nodding in agreement, some
observations that will meet with the response , "not to my mind".
It deserves to sit happily on the bookshelf beside Barzini; and
that is high praise
*The Scotsman*
This portrait of a nation is required reading for anyone heading to
a Tuscan villa or Puglian beach this summer
*Financial Times*
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