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Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History
The rich, recorded history of Sicily reaches back for more than three thousand years. Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, Muslims, Normans, Hohenstaufens, Spaniards, Bourbons, the Savoy Kingdom of Italy and the modern era have all held sway, and left lasting influences on the island’s culture and architecture. And yet no contemporary book tells the story of Sicily in a single volume for the general reader.
Tourists, armchair travelers, and historians will all delight in this fluid narrative that can be read straight through, dipped into over time, or used as a reference guide to each period in Sicily’s fascinating tale.
It is a general history, an account of welfare and warfare. Emigration of people from Sicily often overshadows the importance of the people who immigrated to the island through the centuries. Immigrants have included several who became Sicily’s rulers, along with Jews, Ligurians, and Albanians. All are ancestors of modern Sicilians. Sicily’s character has also been determined by what passed it events that affected Europe generally, namely the Crusades and Columbus’s discovery of the Americas, had remarkably little influence on Italy’s most famous island.
Maps, biographical notes, suggestions for further reading, a glossary, pronunciation keys, and much more make this book as essential as it is enjoyable.
Tourists, armchair travelers, and historians will all delight in this fluid narrative that can be read straight through, dipped into over time, or used as a reference guide to each period in Sicily’s fascinating tale.
It is a general history, an account of welfare and warfare. Emigration of people from Sicily often overshadows the importance of the people who immigrated to the island through the centuries. Immigrants have included several who became Sicily’s rulers, along with Jews, Ligurians, and Albanians. All are ancestors of modern Sicilians. Sicily’s character has also been determined by what passed it events that affected Europe generally, namely the Crusades and Columbus’s discovery of the Americas, had remarkably little influence on Italy’s most famous island.
Maps, biographical notes, suggestions for further reading, a glossary, pronunciation keys, and much more make this book as essential as it is enjoyable.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published May 19, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
July 30, 2019
One of the advantages of reading several books about the same subject is that one gets to see the characteristic biases of the people who write the books. When it comes to the chronology of the book, this volume does a good job at showing the transitions between who ruled over Sicily, demonstrating that the island struggled for a long time with the problems of self-rule and to this day struggles to attain free and responsible self-government as an area. While the author does a good job with the organization, showing how Sicily very quickly became dominated by wheat farming as well as the occasional luxury farming that allowed for groups like the mafia to profit, all of which tended to depress the well-being of the common people, this book is clearly written with some agendas, namely the feminist agenda that the author has. And this sort of agenda is not one I can really get on board with, as it leads the author to distort her work to go out of her way to speculate about women. It's not a surprise that the author has this agenda, but it's just not something that works well for me.
This book is about 450 pages long or so, and is divided into 11 chapters of varying length. The author begins with acknowledgements and an introduction, and then moves into a short chapter about Lipari, a prehistoric site of considerable importance in the ancient obsidian trade (1) before moving into the Greek period and the Roman conquest of the island between 263 and 212BC (2). After this the author talks about the Romans and then the movement of the German peoples south (3) before looking at the rule of the Vandals, Goths, and Byzantines over the island (4). She then transitions to discussing about the rule of the Muslims (5) and then the Normans (6) over the island, and like many people who write about Sicily she appears to greatly appreciate the Normans. After this comes a discussion of the Hohenstaufens and Angevins (7) and then the long Spanish rule over the island (8) which had a brief break where the Savoyards and Austrians ruled over the island for a while before the Spanish Bourbons ruled again for more than a century (9). After that the book ends with a discussion of the Kingdom of Italy (10) as well as the transition to the Republic of Italy where Sicily is an autonomous region (11), after which there is an appendix with statistical tables, some glossaries, notes, suggestions for further reading, and an index.
One thing that rings true when one looks at the history of Sicily is that the island has never been able to unify in the absence of external control, external control that has always been resented and rebelled against. The times when the island was the most peaceful were times where the island's nobles were not particularly ambitious and when the people were downtrodden growing grain for the export market. If all of that meant that Sicily has seldom been a dynamic society, it at least means that the island has known at least some periods of peace, but they were periods when the material poverty of the island's people and the intellectual poverty of its rulers kept taxes low and expectations low and allowed the centuries to go by. Such times were all too view as active government generally pushed the island to change in ways that have consistently encouraged violent resistance from those who profited from the island as it was before. Short of divine intervention, it seems difficult to imagine how Sicily could rise to the level of Northern Italy, much less Northern Europe.
This book is about 450 pages long or so, and is divided into 11 chapters of varying length. The author begins with acknowledgements and an introduction, and then moves into a short chapter about Lipari, a prehistoric site of considerable importance in the ancient obsidian trade (1) before moving into the Greek period and the Roman conquest of the island between 263 and 212BC (2). After this the author talks about the Romans and then the movement of the German peoples south (3) before looking at the rule of the Vandals, Goths, and Byzantines over the island (4). She then transitions to discussing about the rule of the Muslims (5) and then the Normans (6) over the island, and like many people who write about Sicily she appears to greatly appreciate the Normans. After this comes a discussion of the Hohenstaufens and Angevins (7) and then the long Spanish rule over the island (8) which had a brief break where the Savoyards and Austrians ruled over the island for a while before the Spanish Bourbons ruled again for more than a century (9). After that the book ends with a discussion of the Kingdom of Italy (10) as well as the transition to the Republic of Italy where Sicily is an autonomous region (11), after which there is an appendix with statistical tables, some glossaries, notes, suggestions for further reading, and an index.
One thing that rings true when one looks at the history of Sicily is that the island has never been able to unify in the absence of external control, external control that has always been resented and rebelled against. The times when the island was the most peaceful were times where the island's nobles were not particularly ambitious and when the people were downtrodden growing grain for the export market. If all of that meant that Sicily has seldom been a dynamic society, it at least means that the island has known at least some periods of peace, but they were periods when the material poverty of the island's people and the intellectual poverty of its rulers kept taxes low and expectations low and allowed the centuries to go by. Such times were all too view as active government generally pushed the island to change in ways that have consistently encouraged violent resistance from those who profited from the island as it was before. Short of divine intervention, it seems difficult to imagine how Sicily could rise to the level of Northern Italy, much less Northern Europe.
April 2, 2008
The most accurate, detailed and educational synopsis of la Sicilia Bedda I have ever read. Excellent for those who still insist on calling Sicilians "Italians". A must read. Reminds me of the best response I've ever heard to: "You're from Sicily? So you're Italian.", delivered in typical Sicilian form - "I'm from Sicily. I'm Sicilian. How f**king hard is it?"
Italians are, well, usually Italian. Sicilians are Greek, Phoenician, Arab, Jewish, Latin, Spanish....shaken, stirred and served up GORGEOUS, this book is a chronological climb up the family tree. :-) Awesome historical analysis of how and why cosa nostra (mafia, coschi) and the cultural practice of omerta exists to this very moment.
Italians are, well, usually Italian. Sicilians are Greek, Phoenician, Arab, Jewish, Latin, Spanish....shaken, stirred and served up GORGEOUS, this book is a chronological climb up the family tree. :-) Awesome historical analysis of how and why cosa nostra (mafia, coschi) and the cultural practice of omerta exists to this very moment.
January 15, 2011
Fascinating scholarly work chronicling the invasions and occupations of Sicily. It's really a story of the human pain and unintended consequences of top-down policies. A cautionary tale for business who fail to bring all stakeholders to the table and address the issues in the environment.
November 17, 2014
This work is nog particularly well written, nor does it get the historical details correct. So don't bother reading it. There are far better books on the subject.
October 21, 2021
One cannot avoid feeling bad for the people of Sicily, a beautiful island that was destined by its central and strategic location to be run over and occupied over and over, leaving a lack of trust in authorities that still shapes it's character. This book tells a very long story of why this came to be.
June 18, 2012
This is a comprehensive history of Sicily. It's highly readable and good to have if you need a reference book.
January 21, 2013
It becomes clear pretty quickly that Sicily's history is far more complicated than the size of this book can handle. That said, it is a good step-off for further reading.
December 26, 2025
This book attempts to go through 3000 years of the history of Sicily, dividing the chapters according to the main rulers of each epoch and then trying to explain this epoch through different lenses, i.e. economy, daily life, politics, etc. I like how this book connected the chapters and explains mostly only how Sicily lived through different ages from different, almost always foreign, rulers and not only the history of those foreign rulers as other books of Sicily do, but always centered at the island.
That we have so much information from the Island since so long we have to thank to the Greeks, who have recorded history since ancient times and of course kept doing it after making their colonies in the island. The first chapter is very good in explaining the Greek colonization of the island, at least the start and how each important city was founded. Nonetheless, as it deals with around 500 years of history, one sees also the amount of holes that the author could not fill, sometimes 100 years are explained in just one sentence. What really happens with the locals and the Carthaginians for all the Greek period of the island is scanty documented, as unfortunately they did not write history, or their histories did not reach our times.
One thing that is really crazy about the Greek and Roman periods is how easy and normal seemed for rulers of the island to constantly destroy cities, move all its population and rebuilt them again. The Roman time, same as for some other chapters have not such a great extent in explaining events, since Sicily was mainly a province and would only become relevant (and written about) when some slaves revolt took place.
It is sad to see how the only period of relative prosperity (when not only the landowners were doing good but also the ordinary peasant) seems to have been the Arab and Norman times. Specially with the Hohenstaufens Normans before they became Holy Roman Emperors, who kept the administration in Arab hands. From then Sicily will be driven into feudalism and fought over by french, aragonese and spanish, with the constant involvement of papal interests. It seemed as if Sicily went through a thousand years of no real changes for their peoples, almost fully agrarian, with vast landowners or barons having little or no interest in the benefit of the ordinary peasant and, becoming a poison for the island almost until the modern days.
Not even when the world entered its modern times would Sicilian nobles cared to ventured into the booming world trade business that would bring prosperity to the island. Northern Italians mostly control trade (Genovese & Venetians ) during the start of the modern times and afterwards, the English. Since the barons were not even literate enough to manage their states and lived mostly in the cities, they hired middlemen. This appears to be a precursor to the mafia-like society that is well known from modern times, where middlemen try to be part of every business in the island, taking a cut on everything and incorporating violence to put anyone in line that does not want to support the system.
The book last chapters explain very well the Risorgimento (the creation of Italy as a country) and the modern history of Sicily until the start of the 21st century, specially with the constant issue of "ungovernability" and the mafia. A constant in the book seems to be the yearning of Sicilians to be ruled by themselves and not by foreign rulers, which to my view was only achieved after WWII and only partly, as an autonomous region in Italy, the risorgimento was sold to Sicilians as if other Italian rulers would be same as them and not new foreign rulers from Turin, Florence and then Rome but in reality, did the same as every other far away ruler did. It is hard not to think that self rule would not have changed anything if the elites would have been the same barons, who never cared for other than themselves and never had any attempt to improve the lot of their people.
In general the book is very well written and is nice to read, some mistakes, willingly or not can be a bit annoying. Like writing "Russia" when referring to the Kievan Rus during the Arab period, much before any place as "Russia" ever existed and when Kiev still was the most important place of the east slavic peoples. At one point the author even calls Palermo a gay place only for being colorful. Some chapters feel more fluent as others but as always, connect so many years of history with periods having very scant sources is a very daunting task. It is anyhow a great book to understand Sicily today and all the phases it had through so many different peoples running it. The book leaves the reader hoping that Sicily might finally become a prosperous European region.
That we have so much information from the Island since so long we have to thank to the Greeks, who have recorded history since ancient times and of course kept doing it after making their colonies in the island. The first chapter is very good in explaining the Greek colonization of the island, at least the start and how each important city was founded. Nonetheless, as it deals with around 500 years of history, one sees also the amount of holes that the author could not fill, sometimes 100 years are explained in just one sentence. What really happens with the locals and the Carthaginians for all the Greek period of the island is scanty documented, as unfortunately they did not write history, or their histories did not reach our times.
One thing that is really crazy about the Greek and Roman periods is how easy and normal seemed for rulers of the island to constantly destroy cities, move all its population and rebuilt them again. The Roman time, same as for some other chapters have not such a great extent in explaining events, since Sicily was mainly a province and would only become relevant (and written about) when some slaves revolt took place.
It is sad to see how the only period of relative prosperity (when not only the landowners were doing good but also the ordinary peasant) seems to have been the Arab and Norman times. Specially with the Hohenstaufens Normans before they became Holy Roman Emperors, who kept the administration in Arab hands. From then Sicily will be driven into feudalism and fought over by french, aragonese and spanish, with the constant involvement of papal interests. It seemed as if Sicily went through a thousand years of no real changes for their peoples, almost fully agrarian, with vast landowners or barons having little or no interest in the benefit of the ordinary peasant and, becoming a poison for the island almost until the modern days.
Not even when the world entered its modern times would Sicilian nobles cared to ventured into the booming world trade business that would bring prosperity to the island. Northern Italians mostly control trade (Genovese & Venetians ) during the start of the modern times and afterwards, the English. Since the barons were not even literate enough to manage their states and lived mostly in the cities, they hired middlemen. This appears to be a precursor to the mafia-like society that is well known from modern times, where middlemen try to be part of every business in the island, taking a cut on everything and incorporating violence to put anyone in line that does not want to support the system.
The book last chapters explain very well the Risorgimento (the creation of Italy as a country) and the modern history of Sicily until the start of the 21st century, specially with the constant issue of "ungovernability" and the mafia. A constant in the book seems to be the yearning of Sicilians to be ruled by themselves and not by foreign rulers, which to my view was only achieved after WWII and only partly, as an autonomous region in Italy, the risorgimento was sold to Sicilians as if other Italian rulers would be same as them and not new foreign rulers from Turin, Florence and then Rome but in reality, did the same as every other far away ruler did. It is hard not to think that self rule would not have changed anything if the elites would have been the same barons, who never cared for other than themselves and never had any attempt to improve the lot of their people.
In general the book is very well written and is nice to read, some mistakes, willingly or not can be a bit annoying. Like writing "Russia" when referring to the Kievan Rus during the Arab period, much before any place as "Russia" ever existed and when Kiev still was the most important place of the east slavic peoples. At one point the author even calls Palermo a gay place only for being colorful. Some chapters feel more fluent as others but as always, connect so many years of history with periods having very scant sources is a very daunting task. It is anyhow a great book to understand Sicily today and all the phases it had through so many different peoples running it. The book leaves the reader hoping that Sicily might finally become a prosperous European region.
December 26, 2025
In this book, Sandra Benjamin offers a poor account of the history of Sicily. While the first part is quite accurate and detailed regarding the first peoples who arrived in Sicily, starting with the arrival of the Aragonese during the Sicilian Vespers, which gave power to Peter III of the Crown of Aragon, married to Princess Constance, Sandra Benjamin completely misrepresents what the Spanish did from that date, 1282, and during the Aragonese and Spanish rule, without mentioning at all the cruelties of the Angevins and Charles of Anjou. She completely ignores Spain's achievements in Sicily, where, thanks to Philip II in later years, from 1565 onwards, Spain prevented a possible Ottoman invasion from Malta, a very important event. However, Benjamin makes sure to state that Spain did not change the latifundia system originated by the nobility since Roman times, and that the Normans also did not modify it, since in the Europe of those years, the 13th-15th centuries, all of Europe was under the dominion of feudal power. Spain was not to blame for this, as it was a reality in all countries. When she mentions the naval defeat of Charles of Anjou near the Strait of Messina, she fails to mention that his son Charles of Salerno was captured by Roger of Lauria and taken to Spain. Nor does she mention the Battle of Lepanto in 1570, only stating that the soldiers were Sicilians and that Spain hired mercenaries, forcing Sicilians to be in the army. In short, the Spanish army was entirely professional; the so-called Tercios were feared throughout Europe for their effectiveness in combat. I find it strange that an author who, as she says, has lived in Sicily, explains the history with a perspective typical of English influence, which also imposed Amadeo of Savoy to have a weak Sicily after the Treaty of Utrecht, where Amadeo of Savoy, the father-in-law of Philip V, the Spanish king, was appointed King of Sicily with very little approval from the Italians. What England did, as it usually does, was to instigate more wars and violence, and with Amadeo it completely failed, so much so that in the end Garibaldi came to impose his dictatorship and the unification of Italy. In conclusion, this book about Sicily by Sandra Benjamin seems to me to be a very poorly told story, influenced by the English perspective and resembling a biased, negative portrayal, with very little objectivity.
I do not recommend this book, but I do recommend another one, such as Finley M.'s History of Sicily, which discusses Spain more objectively, even mentioning the Baroque style that Spain brought to Sicily.
I do not recommend this book, but I do recommend another one, such as Finley M.'s History of Sicily, which discusses Spain more objectively, even mentioning the Baroque style that Spain brought to Sicily.
December 31, 2018
I listened to this book before a trip to Sicily -- it gave a broad and interesting overview, but not much useful background for tourism, I'm afraid (not its intended purpose, I'm sure). I enjoyed learning about the different periods, especially of the variety of cultures and impacts. It was difficult to follow as an audio book -- I couldn't always listen frequently enough to keep things straight -- but still a worthwhile endeavor and I have no regrets.
June 24, 2017
My rating is more a 3.5. The book's goal is to offer a very compressed overview, and it succeeds. Well-researched and mostly well-written (the attempts at humor fell flat--but that might have been just me). It filled in for me some critical gaps in my understanding of Sicily. A great introduction to the island.
June 30, 2025
As history books go, this one is very readable and easy to follow. Condensing 3,000 years into 450 pages is never an easy task but the reader comes away with an understanding of the multitude of cultures that have inhabited and left a mark on Sicily. Great preparation for an upcoming vacation there.
December 15, 2025
Very comprehensive overview of Sicilian history. As someone who had studied Ancient Sicilian history in college, it was a nice refresher and it was interesting to learn more about the Norman period onwards. At times I got a bit bogged down by what was going on with the barons and their taxing BUT other than that it was great!
January 25, 2021
Family Heritage
I read this book because my paternal grandparents emigrated to New York from Marsala, Sicily, back in the late 1920's. I found the book to be interesting and insightful, as I knew little about it other than it was where the Mafia first established itself.
I read this book because my paternal grandparents emigrated to New York from Marsala, Sicily, back in the late 1920's. I found the book to be interesting and insightful, as I knew little about it other than it was where the Mafia first established itself.
April 26, 2022
Spectacularly good!
I used this as a preread for a trip to Sicily...IT WAS PERFECT!
It's long for a pretrip venture, but I reread it twice with no regrets.
Read it if you're going...read it if you like history!
Highly recommend!
I used this as a preread for a trip to Sicily...IT WAS PERFECT!
It's long for a pretrip venture, but I reread it twice with no regrets.
Read it if you're going...read it if you like history!
Highly recommend!
April 23, 2023
Excellent history of the interesting island with special concern about its current state and future. The author has humour and the text is very readable. She also gives a good account of the problems Sicilians suffer today, much related to the past.
October 24, 2017
Excellent and very detailed.
November 29, 2021
Interesting and informative, but, it was too long.
March 3, 2023
Selected this book because I wanted to know about my husband's ancestors and their historical background. Very easy reading yet very informative.
Read
April 11, 2024Guys I never have to read about Sicilian history from this book AGAIN (it was interesting but oh my god Sandra Benjamin needed to edit this book)
August 6, 2024
Solid primer on Sicily for my planned visit. At little too detailed, and therefore dry, at times. 3.5 stars rounded up.
May 31, 2025
Fascinating supplement to my trip to Sicily. Unbelievable amount of activity on this island.
July 15, 2015
A good overview of the history of Sicily but I unfortunately found the style a little flat, so it reminded me of a textbook rather than a book written for educated adults interested in the history of Sicily. That said, I feel I now have a good overview of the long (and complex) history of this beautiful island, and it helped put in place a number of loose pieces I had regarding Sicilian history--for example, the expulsion of the Jews in 1494; I hadn't realised that in 1494 King Ferdinand (of Spain) was also King of Sicily. As co-sponsor/founder of the Inquisition together with his devout wife Isabella of Castile (she who legendarily gave her jewels to Columbus to finance his expedition to the New World) and King of Sicily, Sicily also fell victim to many of the Inquisition's terrors and prejudices. The expulsion of the Jews from Sicily, despite the protests of many Sicilian Christians, robbed Sicily of much of its educated middle class. Readers will discover many such building blocks in Sicily's history even if they thought they knew nothing of Sicilian history before opening the first chapter--Odysseus, the Punic Wars, Richard the Lion-Heart, barbary pirates, Octavian Augustus, Oscar Wilde, not to mention being the locale of two Shakespearean plays (do you know which ones?).
A very strong recommendation I would make to readers is to read this book concurrent with Mary Taylor Simeti's excellent book covering "twenty-five years of Sicilian Food" entitled Pomp and Sustenance. The chapters parallel one another beautifully and Ms. Simeti's colourful and exuberant writing style helps enliven the history as she also covers her subject chronologically. So read the chapters on the Greek and Roman period in the Benjamin history, then read the related chapters in the Simeti volume. Voila! The paragraphs on agriculture come to life in classic Sicilian recipes still being prepared today. There's not much on culinary traditions introduced by the Vandals and Goths, but the appearance of the Muslim Period in Sicilian history (800s-roughly 1000) meant the introduction of sugar cane, for one, embellished with spices, pistachios and dates, to create many Sicilian desserts with "an Arab imprint, and several that even bear Arab names." This is a reading combination where 1+1=3. Amongst other great additions to world cuisine was tuna. The Sicilians had always been blessed with excellent tuna fishing grounds but it was the Arabs who taught them how to catch them collectively, turning tuna into one of the world's great staples. (And it was a Sicilian who first thought of canning tuna in oil.)
Ms. Benjamin notes in her appendix that most of her sources were in Italian, which explains the rather short suggestions for further reading in English, which is unfortunate, as I consider a book's bibliography one of its riches and often use it as a 'next steps' guide. That said, the few she names are all excellent--Abulafia on Frederick II; John Norwich on the Normans in Sicily, etc.
A good book to get in Kindle format to take with you if you're travelling to or in Sicily, with a very good Index...but don't forget to dip into Simeti's armchair cookbook if you're looking for a more grounded taste of Sicily.
A very strong recommendation I would make to readers is to read this book concurrent with Mary Taylor Simeti's excellent book covering "twenty-five years of Sicilian Food" entitled Pomp and Sustenance. The chapters parallel one another beautifully and Ms. Simeti's colourful and exuberant writing style helps enliven the history as she also covers her subject chronologically. So read the chapters on the Greek and Roman period in the Benjamin history, then read the related chapters in the Simeti volume. Voila! The paragraphs on agriculture come to life in classic Sicilian recipes still being prepared today. There's not much on culinary traditions introduced by the Vandals and Goths, but the appearance of the Muslim Period in Sicilian history (800s-roughly 1000) meant the introduction of sugar cane, for one, embellished with spices, pistachios and dates, to create many Sicilian desserts with "an Arab imprint, and several that even bear Arab names." This is a reading combination where 1+1=3. Amongst other great additions to world cuisine was tuna. The Sicilians had always been blessed with excellent tuna fishing grounds but it was the Arabs who taught them how to catch them collectively, turning tuna into one of the world's great staples. (And it was a Sicilian who first thought of canning tuna in oil.)
Ms. Benjamin notes in her appendix that most of her sources were in Italian, which explains the rather short suggestions for further reading in English, which is unfortunate, as I consider a book's bibliography one of its riches and often use it as a 'next steps' guide. That said, the few she names are all excellent--Abulafia on Frederick II; John Norwich on the Normans in Sicily, etc.
A good book to get in Kindle format to take with you if you're travelling to or in Sicily, with a very good Index...but don't forget to dip into Simeti's armchair cookbook if you're looking for a more grounded taste of Sicily.
March 1, 2017
Exhaustive and enlightening
Wow, this book took forever to get through, but I made it all the way. I was very bored in many parts but I felt that I really learned a lot.
Wow, this book took forever to get through, but I made it all the way. I was very bored in many parts but I felt that I really learned a lot.
March 22, 2021
First of all, the publisher's promo is incorrect. This was NOT the first one-volume history of Sicily. An abridged, one-volume edition of Denis Mack Smith's history of Sicily was published (in English) in 1986. I have it. It isn't great but it IS the history of Sicily in one volume, published long before this one.
It's not very edifying to see the Mafia mentioned on the very first page. In a book about 3000 years of history, why would you emphasize something that has existed only since around 1800?
I'd rather not list the shortcomings of Sandra Benjamin's book. Instead, I'll just say that the histories written by John Julius Norwich and Louis Mendola (The Kingdom of Sicily), both published in 2015, are far more accurate and readable than this book.
If you MUST read this book, at least read those too. Otherwise, unless you've already read a lot about Sicilian history, you'll be getting very little of the story.
Readers should be cautioned that there are many errors here. Do NOT use this book as a reference!
It's not very edifying to see the Mafia mentioned on the very first page. In a book about 3000 years of history, why would you emphasize something that has existed only since around 1800?
I'd rather not list the shortcomings of Sandra Benjamin's book. Instead, I'll just say that the histories written by John Julius Norwich and Louis Mendola (The Kingdom of Sicily), both published in 2015, are far more accurate and readable than this book.
If you MUST read this book, at least read those too. Otherwise, unless you've already read a lot about Sicilian history, you'll be getting very little of the story.
Readers should be cautioned that there are many errors here. Do NOT use this book as a reference!
Read
April 12, 2009One hears of Sicily as if it had always been part of Italy, and as if its predominant religion had been Roman Catholicism since the time of Constantine. This book provides a useful corrective.
That said, the author seems to have as hard a time as people have throughout history in seeing Sicily on its own terms. Too often the idolatry of work creeps in, there's too much insistence on militarism, and the recognition that the Sicilians often knew more of what would work on Sicily than their absentee landlords is often shrugged aside.
Too much of the written history of Sicily is written from the viewpoint of outsiders, and archaeological research seems to've been spotty at best.
A pity--this book had the potential of being a fascninating study of a crossroads of history, but it fell a little short of that. A brave start, though.
That said, the author seems to have as hard a time as people have throughout history in seeing Sicily on its own terms. Too often the idolatry of work creeps in, there's too much insistence on militarism, and the recognition that the Sicilians often knew more of what would work on Sicily than their absentee landlords is often shrugged aside.
Too much of the written history of Sicily is written from the viewpoint of outsiders, and archaeological research seems to've been spotty at best.
A pity--this book had the potential of being a fascninating study of a crossroads of history, but it fell a little short of that. A brave start, though.
August 2, 2012
A popular and fun-to-read general history of Sicily. Ms. Benjamin keeps the pace up, in spite of a narrative that reaches back to the Peloponnesian War and includes a huge cast of peoples, kings, conquerors, popes and mafiosi of various types. An excellent introduction to the history of this fascinating island.
February 5, 2013
Fascinating scholarly work chronicling the invasions and occupations of Sicily. It's really a story of the human pain and unintended consequences of top-down policies. A cautionary tale for business who fail to bring all stakeholders to the table and address the issues in the environment.
June 12, 2020
A great resource for anyone interested in knowing more about Sicily's complex history. It reads like a historic novel and easily draws you into this Mediterranean island's fascinating history. Highly recommended.
May 23, 2008
I was much too distracted when I read this book. I'm not sure I retained anything.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews