The Italians

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Author:

Hooper, John, 1950-

Publisher:

Varies, see individual formats and editions

Publication Date:

2015

Language:

English

Available Copies	Location	Call Number
1 of 1	Hamden/Miller Adult Nonfiction 3rd Floor	945.093/HOO
1 of 1	Madison/Scranton Adult Nonfiction	945.093 HOOPER
1 of 1	North Haven Adult Nonfiction	945 Hooper
1 of 1	Old Lyme A Non-Fiction 300	306.0945 HOO
0 of 1	West Haven Main Adult Non-fiction	306.0945 HOO

Pub. Date

Publisher

Physical Desc.

Availability

2015

Viking

xvii, 316 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

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Online Hoopla Collection

Pub. Date	Source	Edition	Publisher	Content Desc.	Availability
2015	Hoopla	Unabridged	W. F. Howes Ltd	1 online resource (1 audio file (9hr., 45 min.)) : digital.	Available Online Online Hoopla Collection	More Info

Description

How can a nation that spawned the Renaissance have produced the Mafia? How could people concerned with bella figura (keeping up appearances) have elected Silvio Berlusconi as their leader, not once, but three times? Sublime and maddening, fascinating yet baffling, Italy is a country of seemingly unsolvable riddles. 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. Digging deep into their history, culture, and religion, Hooper offers keys to understanding everything from their bewildering politics to their love of life and beauty. Looking at the facts that lie behind the stereotypes, he sheds new light on many aspects of Italian life-- football and Freemasonry, sex, symbolism, and the reason why Italian has twelve words for a coat hanger, yet none for a hangover. Even readers who think they know Italy well will be surprised, challenged, and delighted by The Italians.

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1. The beautiful country : Porta Pia ; Glory and misery ; "The crux of the Italian problem" ; Islands, highlands and plains -- 2. A violent past : Leo's legacy ; Goths, Lombards and Byzantines ; A holy forgery ; The communes ; The Venetian exception ; The medieval Mezzogiorno ; The Italian wars and the Sack of Rome ; Under foreign yokes -- 3. Echoes and reverberations : Two Italies, or three? ; Civismo ; A linguist's playground ; Superiority and sensitivity ; The vincolo esterno ; Of furbi and fessi ; Fragile loyalties ; The prime minister who vanished from history ; Trasformismo -- 4. A hall of mirrors : The Minister for Simplification ; A plethora of laws (and law-enforcers) ; Bureaucracy ; Truth and verità ; Mysteries and the "misty port" ; Pirandello -- 5. Fantasia : Myths and legends ; A phantom army ; Pinocchio ; Copiatura ; Masks and messages ; Opera ; Padania declares independence ; Dietrologia -- 6. Face values : The neo-Fascist's bare arms ; Style and look ; Symbolism ; Talking visually ; Videocracy ; Bella (and brutta) figura -- 7. Life as art : Treasuring life ; A thick layer of stardust ; Work and leisure ; La tavola ; The Mediterranean diet ; Slow food and fast food ; A brief history of pasta ; Foreign food, what foreign food? -- 8. Gnocchi on Thursdays : D'Antona and Biagi ; A love of the familiar ; "Acts of God" and acts of man ; One step to the right ; Conservatism, technophobia and gerontocracy ; The "BOT people" ; From catenaccio to gambling fever -- 9. Holy orders : A blurred line ; The bloody end of Muslim Italy ; Jews and ghettos ; The Waldensians ; Freemasonry ; Blasphemy ; The Lateran Pacts ; Christian Democracy ; A less Catholic Italy ; Comunione e Liberazione ; Sant'Egidio ; Padre Pio ; The "testicles of His Holiness" -- 10. Le Italiane, attitudes change : Great-aunt Clorinda ; From Mozzoni to the Manifesto di rivolta femminile ; Gender and language ; Veline ; Desperate housewives ; Ricatto sessuale ; The influence of Berlusconi ; If not now, when? ; Change in (and on) the air ; La Mamma: glorified but unsupported -- 11. Lovers and sons : Al cuore non si comanda? ; A sexual revolution (within limits) ; Sensuous she-cats and "Italian stallions" ; Adultery ; Prostitution ; Contraception and the mystery of the (missing) unplanned pregnancies ; Mammismo ; Gender stereotyping ; Homosexuality --
12. Family matters : An honored but changing institution ; Divorce ; The decline of marriage ; The Italian family firm: myths and realities ; The arrival of the badante ; Stay-at-home kids: spoiled or just broke? ; "Amoral familism" ; Menefreghismo
13. People who don't dance : From behind shades ; Wariness ; The Fox and the Cat ; To ciao or not to ciao? ; A love of titles ; Mistrust ; Alcohol (and teetotalism) ; Narcotics
14. Taking sides : Il piacere di stare insieme ; Guelphs and Ghibellines ; From the Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club to Berlusconi's AC Milan ; Professionalism, and professional fouls ; Gianni Brera and the footballing press ; Il processo del lunedi ; Fan radios ; The ultras ; Referees ; Calciopoli
15. Restrictive practices : Possessive instincts ; Catholicism and liberalism ; Lottizzazione ; Capitalism without competition ; Protectionism ; Shareholder pacts ; Enrico Cuccia and il salotto buono ; The never-ending tale of the foreign lettori
16. Of Mafias and Mafiosi : A relatively crime-free nation ; What makes a mafia? ; Cosa Nostra decapitated ; The rise of the Camorra and 'Ndrangheta ; Sciascia's palm tree line: organized crime creeps north ; An absence of trust and the legacy of unification
17. Temptation and Tangenti : How corrupt is Italy? ; The role of patronage ; A tolerance of graft ; Corruption and corruzione ; Nepotism ; "Everything in Rome comes at a price" ; The culture of the raccomandazione ; The cost of graft ; A "renaissance of corruption"
18. Pardon and justice : The navel of Italy ; Abusivismo ; Laws and conventions ; Pardon and justice ; The Sofri case ; Slow-moving courts ; The 1989 legal reform ; Garantisti versus giustizialisti ; The magistratura
19. Questions of identity : Italy has a birthday party ; Campanilismo and the frailty of separatism ; Concepts of Italia ; Diversity and disunity ; Dialects lose ground ; The north-south divide: perceptions and statistics ; "Italian-ness" ; Immigration ; Racism ; Sinti and Roma
Epilogue : Blue skies, blue seas, and unhappiness ; Italy's economic decline ; Rules and change ; The need for a dream ; Jep's smile.

Subjects

Biographies
Biography
Civilization
Ethnic identity
Ethnology
Europe
Italians
Italians -- Ethnic identity
Italy
Italy -- Civilization -- 1945-
Italy -- Social conditions -- 1994-
Regionalism
Social conditions
Social sciences
Travel
Travel writing

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Contributors:

hoopla digital
Armstrong, Gareth,reader

ISBN:

9780525428077
9781510004597

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Grouping Information

Grouped Work ID	0d090f76-acc4-57c5-df38-971c9f662a10
Grouping Title	italians
Grouping Author	john hooper
Grouping Category	book
Grouping Language	English (eng)
Last Grouping Update	2025-07-02 22:23:43PM
Last Indexed	2025-07-05 22:33:59PM

Solr Fields

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Armstrong, Gareth

author

Hooper, John, 1950-

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Armstrong, Gareth,reader
hoopla digital

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Hooper, John

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Audio Books
Books
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Book
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9780525428077
9781510004597

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LEAP 28 Day Book

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Non Fiction

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Non Fiction

primary_isbn

9780525428077

publishDate

2015

publisher

Viking
W. F. Howes Ltd

recordtype

grouped_work

subject_facet

Biographies
Biography
Ethnology
Europe
Italians -- Ethnic identity
Italy
Italy -- Civilization -- 1945-
Italy -- Social conditions -- 1994-
Regionalism
Social sciences
Travel
Travel writing

title_display

The Italians

title_full

The Italians / John Hooper
The Italians [electronic resource] / John Hooper

title_short

The Italians

topic_facet

Biography
Civilization
Ethnic identity
Ethnology
Italians
Regionalism
Social conditions
Social sciences
Travel

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record_details

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hoopla:MWT12246951	eAudiobook	Audio Books	Unabridged	English	W. F. Howes Ltd	2015	1 online resource (1 audio file (9hr., 45 min.)) : digital.
ils:.b2401946x	Book	Books		English	Viking	2015	xvii, 316 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

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The Italians

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