Being Berlusconi: The Rise and Fall from Cosa Nostra to Bunga Bunga

by Michael Day

People from all walks of life are appalled and fascinated in equal measure by the stratospheric political career of the tycoon and three-time Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Michael Day provides an in depth look at the life and crimes of the shameless media mogul until his nine lives ran out and he faced definitive conviction which signaled his irreversible decline. He tells the story of a bright and ambitious man from a lower-middle class family who shook off his humble origins and rose to become rich and powerful beyond most people's dreams―a multi-billionaire whose Mediaset company remains one of Europe's largest television and cinema conglomerates. Along the way, amid the election victories, business triumphs, and womanizing, he became bogged down by his hubris, egotism, sexual obsessions, as well as his flagrant disregard for the law. And yet how and why did Italy and Italians put up with him for so long? With the 78-year-old's legal woes ongoing, including further trials for bribery, after a recent nine-month community service stint, Being The Rise and Fall from Cosa Nostra to Bunga Bunga is well-timed to mark the final chapters of a notorious―and astonishing―life and career.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published July 21, 2015

Reviews

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A frenetic and crazy story of Berlusconi's rise and fall in Italian politics. I confess to only knowing limited information about Berlusconi. I've read articles about him and heard about him on the news but didn't really know the information in depth. I thought I'd learn more reading this book. Alas, I found the book assumed a lot about Berlusconi and his life. it provided a synopsis but I never got a feeling for the subject and the circumstances which surrounded him. The narrative style is similar to a gossip telling a huge number of spurious tidbits of information in a fashion that entertains themselves and other people already in the know. What stood out to me was the wife who had separated from but had an agreement not to divorce until he was accused of having sex with an underage girl. That struck a cord within me and I can see why she finally had to divorce him rather than putting up with his behavior. I really didn't get insight into Berlusconi's reasoning and desires.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing read about this man who has been in power for so long in Italy. It was very interesting, although I felt the author inserted his own political.biases more than he should have. I always knew Berlusconi was corrupt but had no idea of the real extent of it.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the greatest, a bit disorganized, some errors. Not a horrible book, for covering a recent topic.

[Nick Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's always a bad idea to let someone write a book about a person they hate, if only because they're unlikely to be objective, and Michael Day very clearly hates Silvio Berlusconi. Catty, huffy remarks and pointless name-calling permeate the book, toward Berlusconi and literally anyone who was associated with him. The second biggest target of ire is Emilio Fede, who worked for Berlusconi and whose every mention is accompanied by an insult and/or derisive childish nickname from Day. The author also has a very bad habit of dropping in gossip, rumor, and innuendo as fact while simultaneously dismissing any positive thing anyone says about Berlusconi as lies. The intent is clearly to poison the well against Day's object of hatred, except it simply makes any reasonable reader question whether anything in the book is true. This book also functions as a salacious tabloid write-up of the various sex parties Berlusconi allegedly held, with Day presenting lewd details with great relish, then tut-tutting in an attempt to deflect from the fact that he's the pervert focusing on those aspects (Day was especially fixated on a lesbian nun stripshow at a party).

Berlusconi is by every indication a scummy guy who abused power, but Day was a terrible messenger for that information.

[Biblio Files (takingadayoff) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There have been 64 governments in Italy since 1945. Although the term for a Prime Minister is five years, only one has managed to last that long in office. Silvio Berlusconi, with no political experience and with suspected ties to organized crime served as prime minister three times between 1994 and 2011 for a total of nine years. He formed his own political party, made promises he didn't keep, fiddled while the worldwide financial crisis tanked Italy's economy, became famous for sex parties at his several palaces, took credit for being a man of action when an earthquake devastated one town, and took credit for saving the antiquities of Pompeii, while doing nothing.

As I began to read Being Berlusconi, I thought of the man as a buffoon with a lot of legal problems. But after reading journalist Michael Day's account, I am amazed that he was able to stay in office so long. He was a disaster in every way, doing nothing for the people of Italy while putting all his efforts into changing the laws to favor him in his shady real estate and media deals. Why did people continue to vote for him?

Day explains Berlusconi's rise to wealth and his rise as a political force. It's clear and untangles a lot of complicated dealings. Berlusconi may be a buffoon, but it's a mistake to underestimate him. In fact, it looks as if his party, Forza Italia, is dissolving, and Berlusconi is prohibited as part of his court sentence from serving in office for several more years, and he's nearly 80 years old. But I wouldn't be surprised if somehow, he manages to stage a comeback. God help Italy if he does.