The Crisis of the Italian State: From the Origins of the Cold War to the Fall of Berlusconi

by Patrick McCarthy

McCarthy (European studies, Johns Hopkins U.) was in the process of analyzing the Italian government of Paolo Berlusconi when it fell in December 1994. (One can be startled without being surprised.) In the first full account in English of Berlusconi's rise and fall, he examines the role of clientalism, the machinations of the Mafia, the corporate direction of Fiat, the edicts of the Vatican, and the organization of the Italian soccer league. If Italian politics is this complicated even to explain, no wonder noone can actually do it very well. Includes a historical perspective and profiles of the people mentioned. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Italy

238 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1995

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Reviews

[Andrew Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

little bit dull, but not terrible
Its informative, reliable, and helpful
Quite Italy-focused, to the point the author sort of has tunnel vision. When he talked about Fiat employing people in a "low-wage" country like Poland, I thought it interesting he never made reference to China. To me it reflects an older mentality, that was so focused on the EC/EU and single market that it couldn't see the forest for the trees

Definitely not a good book for a casual read, not as a first book on postwar Italy, and maybe not the best, but could be useful for some purposes