Showing titles in Italy

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...

In seinem neuen Buch zeigt der Bestseller-Autor Michael Sommer nicht, wie Rom glänzte, sondern wie und warum es funktionierte – und welchen Preis viele dafür zahlten. Die schmutzige Seite Roms war ganz gewiss kein Betriebsunfall der Antike, sondern die Kehrseite ihrer Größe.

A WASHINGTON STATE BOOK AWARD FINALIST New York Times bestselling author William Alexander provides a fascinating and erudite micro-history of the tomato. "A captivating—and appetizing—read." —Amy Stewart, New York Times bestselling author of Wicked Plants The tomato gets no respect. Never...

From the international bestselling author and notable journalist Aldo Cazzullo comes a brilliantly researched and extremely accessible journey through the history and legacy of the Roman Empire. “The only way to narrate over a thousand years of history is to understand what it has left us. To...

Generally considered to be J. B. Bury's magnum opus, this kaleidoscopic and assiduously accurate reconstruction of the Western and Eastern Roman empire covers the crucial years from the death of Theodosius in 395 to the death of Justinian in 565. This 170 year period reveals the forces and cross-currents which engulfed Constantinople, Rome, Antioch, along with the Germanic and Persian peoples. Various tribes like the Huns, Lombards, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Vandals are carefully investigated.

Growing up in Brisbane in the 1970s and 80s, Zoë Boccabella knew if you wanted to fit in, you did not bottle tomatoes, have plastic on the hallway carpet or a glory box of Italian linens. Though she tried to be like 'everyone else', refusing to learn Italian and even dyeing her dark hair blonde, Zoë couldn't shake the unsettling sense of feeling 'half-and-half' - half Australian, mezza italiana - unable to fit fully into either culture, or merge the two.

Three years following the destruction of Legio XXI in Pannonia, former Tribune Tiberius Artorius Castus and retired Centurion Primus Ordo Gavius Lucifer arrive in Rome. Their political fortunes rest in their letters of introduction from the revered general and Governor of Pannonia and Upper Germania, Marcus Ulpius Trajan. As the two former soldiers embark on a life far removed from the Danube frontier, they remain ever mindful of Trajan’s cautionary advice; that Roman politics are deadlier than the most fearsome enemy warrior.

The word “mafia,” Sicilian in origin, is synonymous with Italy, but Italy is home to several different mafias, with three being particularly notorious. While the Cosa Nostra of western Sicily is the most infamous, other powerful groups include the ferocious ‘Ndrangheta of Calabria and the Camorra, the third-largest mafia, which is active in Naples and the Campania region.

Meditations is former US President Bill Clinton's favorite book. This audio consists of a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor AD 161-180, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy.

"The Prince" is a 16th-century political treatise by the Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli. From correspondence a version appears to have been distributed in 1513, using a Latin title, "De Principatibus" ("Of Principalities"). However, the printed version was not published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death. This was done with the permission of the Medici pope Clement VII, but "long before then, in fact since the first appearance of The Prince in manuscript, controversy had swirled about his writings".

Ada Howell had an idyllic childhood growing up in Garreg Las, the ancient country house of her adopted father. But when he dies, Ada’s mother quickly sells up taking her daughter to live a far more modest life in London – a life so frightfully mediocre, Ada refuses to accept it as her own...

From an early age, Margaret Fuller provoked and dazzled New England’s intellectual elite. Her famous Conversations changed women’s sense of how they could think and live; her editorship of the Transcendentalist literary journal the Dial shaped American Romanticism. Now, Megan Marshall, whose acclaimed The Peabody Sisters "discovered" three fascinating women, has done it again: No biography of Fuller has made her ideas so alive or her life so moving.

The largest island of the Mediterranean has always been a complicated place with a fraught relationship to the Italian mainland. Separated by only the narrow Strait of Messina, Sicily feels like a different country in many ways, and the differences between Sicilians and Italians are much vaster than the tiny geographical separating them might intimate. For example, the linguistic differences between the two are substantial, as Sicilian is practically its own language, rather than just a dialect.

Explore the dramatic European history of a coastal metropolis defined by endless conquest and cultural resilience. Perfect for your daily commute or armchair travel, this evocative journey transports you to the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. Discover how a glittering Greek settlement evolved through...

Experience three thousand years of captivating European history, exploring the epic rise and fall of mighty empires. Perfect for your daily commute or educational listening, this fast-paced historical overview plunges you into the vibrant mosaic of ancient settlements, dazzling city-states, and...

In all of human history there has never been an era as richly endowed with human creativity as the Italian Renaissance. When the economic boom of the Late Middle Ages had allowed a flourishing and wealthy merchant class to emerge, a plethora of artists, sculptors, architects, and thinkers followed in their wake. In an astonishingly short period of time, Italy was transformed mentally, physically, and spiritually.

The Quiet Before is a grand panorama, stretching from the 17th-century correspondence that jump-started the scientific revolution to the groundswell of the Chartists, the liberation movement on the Gold Coast and the underground network of samizdat publications in Soviet Russia - even the encrypted apps used by epidemiologists fighting the pandemic in the shadow of an inept administration. Beckerman shows that defining social movements - from decolonisation to feminism - thrive when they are given the time and space to gestate.

Explore the four cities of Irish legend to which druid Abaris the sky-rider traveled in his flying machine, and from which the Tuatha dé Danann gods of Ireland came prior to their arrival in the British Isles - an arrival from the sky by a race of humanoids whose description matches that of the Nordic extraterrestrials visiting Earth today. Clues link diverse regions of the world under one pantheon of related gods and not the unrelated gods as we perceive them today, while greedy humans line their pockets and destroy the evidence in a grand power play.

Foreign correspondent Christine Toomey spent years renovating her glorious, long-abandoned hill-top home in Le Marche, Italy, as a haven of rest from covering crises around the world. But in 2016, the peace and beauty of this beloved landscape were thrown into chaos when a series of powerful earthquakes struck the heart of the Apennines. Wracked with grief for a place still reverberating with seismic aftershocks, Christine set out on a journey of discovery through the history of a landscape that gave birth to so much of Western culture and civilisation.

Iris Origo, one of the twentieth century's great diarists, was born in England in 1902. As a child, she moved between England, Ireland, Italy and America, never quite belonging anywhere. It was only when she married an Italian man that she came to rest in one country. Fifteen years later, that country would be at war with her own. With piercing insight, Origo documents the grim absurdities that her adopted Italy underwent as war became more and more unavoidable.