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The Dark Heart of Italy
by: Tobias Jones

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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780571235933
ISBN: 057123593X
Label: Faber and Faber
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: March 15, 2007
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Studio: Faber and Faber
Sales Rank: 18180

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
Tobias Jones' remarkable book essential reading for Italy enthusiasts: The Dark Heart of Italy (subtitled Travels Through Time and Space across Italy) is unlike any book on the country you may have read before. It is not a guide to Italy's art, or her geographical splendours. Nor is it a guide to her amazing cuisine. And it is not an examination of the Italian character. It does, however, contain elements of all of these and much more. When the author emigrated to Italy in 1999, he expected the customary ravishing of the senses that Italy usually provides. But, looking beneath the surface, Jones was astonished to encounter surprising undercurrents, among them national paranoia and the crippling fear inspired by terrorists (the Italian parliament, it seems, has a 'Slaughter Commission').

This is, of course, the country of Silvio Berlusconi, the tycoon whose controversial election via his stranglehold on the media was (to British eyes at least) something that should not be countenanced in a non-totalitarian country. While always taking on board the glories of Italy, Jones' picture of the country is both fascinating and disturbing: this is a land torn apart by civil wars and endemic corruption, the still influential Cosa Nostra and unbending Catholicism exert considerable sway.

Italy remains utterly unlike any of its European neighbours. Jones sees links between the powerful creativity of the Italian soul and the 'dark heart' that he refers to in his title. What is most remarkable about the book is the fact that no one who loves Italy will be at all disenchanted to encounter the truths that Jones presents to us. If anything, the complex and contradictory nation that emerges will hold an even greater fascination for both the serious student and the casual visitor. --Barry Forshaw

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- A disappointing collection of second-hand stereotypes
This book is a collection of second-hand stereotypes about Italy and Italians. I watched the author on a TV program struggling to put a few words together in Italian and asked myself how he could have gathered any insighgts on the Italian political/sociological situation with such a poor knowledge of the local language. Overall: a surprisingly shallow book and a serious source of embarassement for British journalism.

Rating:

- far from reality
The author does't know what he is talking about. His vision of Italy, its politics and Italians is naive. It is never a good idea to generalize about a country and its citizens, especially if someone is not an anthropologist and especially if the description carries a judgement in itself. And if you are not a glottologist it is not wise to interpret the language according to the ethimology of the words without placing the latters in their contemporary context and use. In fact it is the use that makes the language, regardless its origin, especially if we are talking about familiar expressions. The author's vision of Italy and Italians is superficial, and I am only talking about the first chapter. The title of the book presents the book itself ... Read More:

Rating:

- Thanks Brits!
In Italy this book caused a small wave of anglophobia.
However, we italians must thank you brits because of your great jouranlists, Tobias Jones and David Lane. They are the voice of 50% of Italians who hate Berlusconi.
Read their books and you'll know who we Italians are.

Rating:

- The emotions of a newcomer bring back the memories...
This is a great to book to read for those resident in Italy over the last thirty years - I relived it all. The bomb in Piazza Fontana when I could hear the roar of the sirens from my office, the young recruits with their rifles outside the Leonardo De Vinci Lyceum, Corso XXII Marzo where Zibecchi was crushed to death by an armoured police van etc., etc., events which happened close to my home. All the bewilderment of the new arrival at the Italian way of doing things, of their art to "arrangiarsi", the scandalous verdicts, the never ending trials and the hopes that some day things will change and now the Berlusconi catastrophe are sensations which Jones experienced 30 years on...Nothing has changed and his conclusion is identical. The last chapter ... Read More:

Rating:

- An amusing book, but quite superficial.
As an Italian living in the north of Italy I don't understand why Mr. Jones fights so angrily against italian banks, postal offices and police offices for foreigners. In forty years living here I never experienced problems with banks or postal offices. Maybe I can meet the same problems if I will go in England. I enjoyed the humorous writing of Mr. Jones and I laughed for his description of the Italian bureaucracy. Much of what he says about dishonesty and corruption it's absolutely true, but I think he himself is really distant from italian meanings, and always patronizing. He doesn't understand that Italians work much harder than most people believe. It doesn't exactly fit with the carefree image wich the British is happy to accept as the truth. ... Read More:

Books : The Dark Heart of Italy