Imprint
- Hodder Paperbacks
- Sceptre
- Hodder & Stoughton
Prose: non-fiction, History, General & world history, History: earliest times to present day, Organized crime
The truth is more chilling than fiction: COSA NOSTRA tells, for the first time, the true history of the Sicilian mafia - now revised and updated to include recent events.
COSA NOSTRA is the compelling story of the Sicilian mafia, the world s most famous, most secretive and most misunderstood criminal fraternity.
The mafia has been given many names since it was founded one hundred and forty years ago: the Sect, the Brotherhood, the Honoured Society, and now Cosa Nostra. Yet as times have changed, the mafia s subtle and bloody methods have remained the same. Now, for the first time, COSA NOSTRA reconstructs the complete history of the Sicilian mafia from its origins to the present day, from the lemon groves and sulphur mines of Sicily, to the streets of Manhattan.
COSA NOSTRA is a definitive history, rich in atmosphere, and with the narrative pace of the best detective fiction, and has been updated to make it the most vital contemporary account of the mafia ever published.
The mob genre has finally grown up.
Praise for Cosa Nostra: The Definitive History of the Sicilian Mafia
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I couldn't put it down. His archival sleuthing is yoked to his powerful, often coruscating storytelling to create a chilling account of the mafia's sinister, horrific reality. - John Guy, The Sunday Times
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Riveting - Sunday Telegraph
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A readable, highly informative, admirably systematic account of how the Mafia attained its hold. - Times Literary Supplement
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Highly readable...compelling. The narrative is entertaining and, at times, as chilling as the darkest crime fiction. At its best, it combines compelling horror with clear, rational analysis of the moral and political failings, which, even today, give the mafia a seat at many top tables in Italian society. - Glasgow Herald
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Lucid...grimly readable. - Daily Telegraph
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The first truly definitive English-language study of this myth-laden subject, and it is a pleasure to read...his book is notable for shrewd judgements couched in language that is vibrantly memorable. His acquaintance with the island and his immersion in the wider modern Italian culture allows him to convey the noxious atmosphere of corruption with flair. - Sunday Times
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Monumental and gripping - Andrew Marr, BBC Start the Week
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Combines scholarship with a rip-roaring read - Sunday Herald
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John Dickie
John Dickie is Professor of Italian Studies at University College London. He is an internationally recognised specialist on many aspects of Italian history and his books have been translated into well over twenty languages. His history of the Sicilian mafia, Cosa Nostra, has sold a million copies. John has reached a multi-national television audience with a number of documentaries he has co-written and presented, including the six-part history of Italian food-a smash hit in Italy-which was based on Delizia! It is now on Amazon Prime as: Eating History - The Story of Italy on a Plate.
John has been a judge of the Pesto World Championships in Genoa. In 2017 and 2018 he was the host of the Pasta World Championships in Parma, sponsored by Barilla. In 2021 he hosted the San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy in Milan.
In 2005 the President of the Italian Republic appointed him a Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella della SolidarietA Italiana.
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