The Invention of Sicily: A Mediterranean History

by Jamie Mackay

A fascinating cultural history of this most magical of islands.

Sicily has always acted as a gateway between Europe and the rest of the world. Fought over by Phoenicians and Greeks, Romans, Goths and Byzantines, Arabs and Normans, Germans, Spanish and French for thousands of year, Sicily became a unique melting pot where diverse traditions merged, producing a unique heritage and singular culture.

In this fascinating account of the island from the earliest times to the present day, author and journalist Jamie Mackay leads us through this most elusive of places. From its pivotal position in the development of Greek and Roman mythology, and the beautiful remnants of both the Arab and Norman invasions, through to the rise of the bandits and the Cosa Nostra, The Invention of Sicily charts the captivating culture and history of Sicily.

Mackay weaves together the political and social development of the island with its fascinating cultural heritage, discussing how great works including Lampedusa’s masterpiece The Leopard and its film adaptation by Visconti, and the novels of Leonardo Sciascia, among many others, have both been shaped by Sicily’s past, and continue to shape it in the present.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Italy, Ancient History, Audiobook, European History, World History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published July 13, 2021

Reviews

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sicily really was the crossroads of empires, some expected (Greeks, Romans, Muslims), some much less so (I had no idea that the Normans ruled Sicily for a while). I also had no idea what a regional power Sicily was for long stretches, compared to it's relative standing today. The long history also helps make sense of the present, particularly centuries of playing off and development of different regions for political gains which has contributed to the impoverishment of the south of Sicily. I also know little about the formation of the nation of Italy and the decision the new nation made to prioritize industrial development in the north and agriculture in the south, which have had ruinous consequences for Sicily. The book also does a good job covering the rise and fall and rise and current status of the mafia, framing them as a quasi-governmental actor that takes advantage of political and economic chaos to profit on drugs, corruption, and misery. On the whole a fascinating and well written book I learned a ton from.

[Manray9 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found Mackay's book to be superficial and pedestrian. Based on the reviews, I expected more.

[Jenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad I finally read it!! I really enjoyed it - an interesting and accessible historical introduction to a place I know little about. I wish there had been pictures included as I kept pausing to google, say, the graffiti in the cells of prisoners of the Inquisition.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish all of my Sicilian family members would read this. While I know it could go into deeper detail, it gave me a great basis for understanding more about why my family may have left Sicily when they did. It helps me understand more why I was plagued by racial and derogatory comments while growing up about being part Sicilian (they never made any sense to me) and why Northern Italians always saw themselves as superior. I didn't even know that Sicily wasn't part of Italy until the 1890s!
The writer writes very clearly, establishing a good order of many chaotic events while never buying in to assumptions and speculation. It gives me pride to know that I am part of this ancient, diverse culture.

[Marks54 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will admit it - in reading about Italy and trying to prepare for when travel there is finally permitted, I have tended to favor the north, especially Florence and Tuscany. Why? It is sometimes hard to tell. There is so much interesting in Florence. Rome has extraordinary history too, perhaps so much that it is overwhelming. I am also interested in the south, but relative to the rest I know much less.

…and then there is Sicily. Sicily pops up in history but never seems to present a unified single history rather than a long mixture of different conquests, cultures, and stories. The Athenians ran afoul of the Sicilian Greeks in Syracuse. They in turn ran afoul of the Romans. Subsequent rulers included the Normans, the different Caliphates, the Bourbons, until Sicily finally became part of a unified Italy (sort of …). Throw in fine eating, Mt. Edna, the Mafia, and Libyan refugees, and it is not surprising that a unified picture of Sicily seems hard to find. Is Sicily one place or many? Is it part of Italy or separate? Is it a destination or a crossroads?

Jamie Mackey is a journalist and a translator who has written a fairly short one volume history of Sicily. He writes well and has written an accessible history of Sicily that begins around 800 BCE and concludes in the present. He ties together the various strands of Sicilian history into a relatively coherent whole and adds enough additional tidbits of knowledge and trivia that readers may actually want to visit the place. He even tries to explain the Sicilian Vespers uprising of the 13th century and he identifies a number of historical sites worth seeing, such as the Cathedral Church of Montreal. More illustrations and perhaps a few more maps may have helped with the book, but it was not a big problem, since I have my tablet nearby.

[Brendan Campisi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good broad-strokes history of the island from the perspective of its popular classes; it was especially interesting to learn more about popular uprisings and social movements and about folk culture. Very much aimed at an audience without much familiarity with Italian history so certain parts felt a bit too simplified to me, but it's good that Verso publishes Marxist histories for Your Dad.

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses on the cultural history of Sicily as well as the current issues that the small island faces. As an American born child of Sicilian parents, I found it especially interesting to listen to. I have family that lives in Sicily and when we visited, I saw many of the places discussed. This account includes the different people that inhabited the island at different times and created the heritage and culture. The author also addresses the current political and social issues that the Sicilians face today.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is everything I was looking for in a book about Sicily! I'll likely be rereading in the very near future because this is jam-packed with information. Each section covers a different period of the history of the island, moving chronologically as the narrative progresses. Each chapter could have been an entire book with all the richness of the history in this area.

[Marin Kuijt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sicilië is fascinerend; dit boek wat minder.

[Morten Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written overview of Sicilian history from ancient times to the present. I thought the early chapters were especially engaging, describing how different cultures came together during the Byzantine and Norman periods. The later chapters summarize a lot of complex material very quickly and I thought more attention could have been focused on emigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries and the Second World War. An excellent read for anyone planning a trip to Italy.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

While reading these Sicilian stories, I noted many American correlates, such as:
1) A group of rich-world residents establish a colony in a foreign land;
2) The colonizers co-opted, pushed back, or killed the prior inhabitants;
3) A large empire with an extensive trading network absorbed the original colony;
4) The ruling families of France and Spain alternately ruled parts of it;
5) British warships bombarded its cities;
6) Bandits created havoc in the dry, sparsely populated interior;
7) The inhabitants achieved local-rule after a bloody revolution;
8) The U.S. Army conducted a military campaign across much of its territory; and
9) A secretive criminal organization infiltrated its commercial, governmental, and social institutions.
As the American-educated, long-time Italian resident, George Sanayana, famously said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I plan to visit some of these storied, historical sites soon.

[Giancarlo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this in very dreich January/February weather has been a wee warm Island oasis retreat away from Glasgow.

MacKay uses the story of shapeshifting, sweltering, bizarre Sicily as a thumping defence of multiculturalism. I had little idea of the intricate history of the island but this is a belter of a crash course. In each well-written chapter, this book walks through the broad strokes of the island’s long story, while taking some time out to admire a few more small-scale anecdotes.

We have the hegemonic idea of the NATION STATE planted deep within us from an early age & it can be hard to shake it off. Sicily is a cracking case study of a place where these kinds of National narratives and frameworks really grate. I’m going on honeymoon to Sicily in May and, after this read, I am puuuure excited.

[Swarthout · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was lost in the shuffle in 2021. but a very dense well researched history. a very interesting island. i got lost in this book and plowed through it in 2 or 3 days. esp interesting is kings of sciliy rogers I and II, norman kings, who were quite enlightened and open, in a time when europe was not exactly known for its tolerance. honestly these guys were more open to muslims than most european or european ancestry ppl are today, a 1000 years later.
im hoping someone republishes "the book of roger" which is an atlas compiling all known information of the world in the 12th century, maybe prometheus books has already?

i'm not 100% sure why verso released it but i dont mind supporting l*ftist independent publishers. seek this one out.

[Zach]

No rating. An accessible, concise history of Sicily. Like most books with considerable breadth in the topic, you will have to consult other sources to achieve depth on any one topic/era. The author's own political orientation comes through, but not distractingly so. I wanted to learn a bit more about an intriguing place I knew very little about, and the Invention of Sicily met the mark.

[Genevieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly a favourite that captures the complexities, beauty, and multi-cultural history of this magical island.

[Domenico Capilongo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful in-depth look at this amazing island. Fantastico!

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Straightforward, concise history that is too the point and doesn't waste anyone's time. It manages to be informative & compelling without any wallowing in unnecessary minutiae.

[Thijs Janssen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read before the trip to sicaly. Lot of info but never dense, with a hopeful closing chapter. Gave a great backdrop for the rich historic locations we came across. Great read!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

The historical diversity and resiliency of the island makes me very proud of my Sicilian heritage!

[Hal Brodsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry history of Sicily focusing on politics through the ages with occasional tangents about artists and authors. The author's goal seems to be to explain how Sucily wound up as poor and corrupt as he claims it is. (I was primarily interested in Sicily's Ancient history, and now this book leaves me afraid to go there. Sigh.)

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book to read before we visit Sicily this September. What a rich history, with lots of context about places we will visit and may not have visited otherwise. I do hope Sicily’s best days are ahead!

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up as an Italian (Sicilian) American in the United States, between familial stories and media depictions like "The Godfather", it was always difficult and confusing to parse what was authentic and what was exaggerated or outright made up about Sicily and my ancestors.

This well-researched and readable one volume history of Sicily has really helped give me a sense of the complex history and many distinct cultures that have both fragmented and shaped Sicily.

"For centuries Sicilians have struggled to assert their autonomy in the face of Catholic monoculture, Italian nationalism, fascism and organized crime."

Annacamento.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, readable, enjoyable history of the island.

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Publisher Says: A fascinating cultural history of this most magical of islands.

Sicily has always acted as a gateway between Europe and the rest of the world. Fought over by Phoenicians and Greeks, Romans, Goths and Byzantines, Arabs and Normans, Germans, Spanish and French for thousands of years, Sicily became a unique melting pot where diverse traditions merged, producing a unique heritage and singular culture.

In this fascinating account of the island from the earliest times to the present day, author and journalist Jamie Mackay leads us through this most elusive of places. From its pivotal position in the development of Greek and Roman mythology, and the beautiful remnants of both the Arab and Norman invasions, through to the rise of the bandits and the Cosa Nostra, The Invention of Sicily charts the captivating culture and history of Sicily.

Mackay weaves together the political and social development of the island with its fascinating cultural heritage, discussing how great works including Lampedusa’s masterpiece The Leopard and its film adaptation by Visconti, and the novels of Leonardo Sciascia, among many others, have both been shaped by Sicily’s past, and continue to shape it in the present.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Sicily's thousands of years of documented history can't be done justice in a shortish survey book. It can, however, do the reader who loves Italy and longs for a Sicilian vacation a very big solid by explaining a bit about why Sicily is not like the rest of Italy. There is a significant prejudice against Sicilians, and Southerners more generally, in Italy as a whole...no country is without internecine conflict...but the reasons go back a very long way.

Starting from its origins as a Greek colony, Sicily has been fought over by outsiders for millennia. Different Greek city-states, Phoenicians, Normans on Crusade taking it from Arabs...if you want to understand how Sicilian culture gave rise to the ultimate Family, the Mafia, insulated from the rest of the world, look no further than its long history of being the prize in other peoples' wars.

Italy the current nation-state did not even exist until 1860. After that Unification, the country pretty much ignored the agrarian island. Riots and rebellions, official neglect and church corruption, all led to the rise of the chaotic present in which the Cosa Nostra/Mafia/organized crime has acted as a kind of de facto government substitute. The present-day refugee crises have had a powerful impact on the island's rickety infrastructure and led Sicilians to harden their opinion that the rest of Italy is not interested in helping them cope with this problem not of their own making...again.

The book is written very ably, and has a deft touch on the topics it does cover. It does not pretend to authoritative stature as a major history. It is clear about its purpose as a survey of a long, long history of a much-put-upon place. It will give Italophiles bad wanderlust, and spark curiosity in most history buffs. Any place that has Archaic Greek, Byzantine, Golden Age Muslim, Byzantine, medieval Norman, Spanish, and Catalan ruins and buildings still in use is a place very much worth getting to know. Don't go in expecting a deep dive into any one period's history, and this book will surprise, delight, inform, and astonish you.

But seriously...no images? *tsk*

[Robert Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy a good Verso book now and again. The venerable left wing publisher can usually be relied upon to provide an amusingly different take on a familiar genre. My favorite example was "Fully Automated Luxury Communism" which was the sort of tech-booster survey I had read probably a dozen times, but from a leftist perspective rather than the typical pro-business libertarian one. The idea of a vaguely leftish take on the history of Sicily sounded fun to me. A historio-travelogue with a bit of a harder political edge perhaps?

Unfortunately this book didn't provide anything too novel or interesting in format. Just some shaky leftist assertions that pop up in the narrative that didn't strike me as particularly accurate or useful. The book closes with a chapter talking about how migrants are enriching Sicily, which I don't doubt, but there are some frankly ridiculous passages that imply that all Sicilians welcome these migrants, which can be easily corrected by looking at the past decade of Sicilian election results. The chapter on the Arab conquest in the 9th century tells us how few Sicilians really resisted, while also telling us that the conquest of the island somehow took half a century of violent sieges. Thankfully the leftist brain farts are more asides than the focus, and most of the book was an impressive, amusingly written telling of Sicily's history.

And Sicily has quite a history! Greeks, Arabs, Normans, German Emperors, the Spanish, and finally Garibaldi, Italian unification and Mussolini all make for a compelling narrative. I have some quibbles, like how quickly the 350 years of Spanish control are glossed over, but it's a short book to cover 2,000 years in, and Mackay does a more than competent job laying it all out. Mackay's enthusiasm for the larger than life characters of the island's medieval centuries is infectious and all in all this was a very pleasant read. I do wish there was a little more on how Sicily went from being such a prosperous place during the Middle Ages to such a backwater in modern times. Those glossed over Spanish centuries probably had a lot to do with it. But again, Mackay does an admirable job with a short book.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've learned that all roads don't indeed lead to Rome, but that all roads, seas, rivers, air ways, paths and stories lead to Sicily.

“Sicilian history is white, Christian and Western, certainly, but it has also been, and still is, black, Arab, and Muslim among other things.”

A profoundly entertaining and lucid fever dream. A wildly readable history of the island of Sicily.

Every sentence should not be missed in this incredibly telling of the islands history. That is because every sentence is imporant and holds immense weight to it.

It is a continent, a whole world. Not just an island. "The atlases say that Sicily is an island, and that might well be true. Yet one has some doubts, especially when you think that an island usually corresponds to a homogenous blob of race and customs. Here everything is mixed, changing, contradictory, just as one finds in the most diverse, pluralistic of continents." —Gesualdo Bufalino

I've made so many tabs in this book to go back to that I'd have to list them, rather than quote them!

"Being Parlermitan is not about blood, or heritage or even wher you were born. It's about the simple choice of living in this city. This place has always been a kind of mosaic, a melting pot. We recognize difference not as something to be overcome, but as a value in itself. We find our unity not by clinging to what makes us exceptional, but what we mobilize among ourselves to defend universal human rights." This brief history comes full circle from this quoted passage to the very last here: “Palermo is not a European City. It’s a Middle Eastern metropolis in Europe.” — “Thanks to migrants we are recovering our history and our harmony.”

[Pep · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. It was less of a history textbook than I feared, and in fact I thought it could have been longer, although I am sure that this will be rectified in future with further chapters that reflect contemporary issues, such as its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the further development of its wine industry.

Reading its history, I was increasingly surprised that it had not become a country in itself; I don't know whether that is because it is happy (like Wales' relationship with England) with co-dependence rather than independence) to suffer the annoyances of the mainland government while still believing itself to be self-governed, or whether the population rather enjoy the lack of interference in cultural and commercial matters. The elephant in the room, of course, is Cosa Nostra, and while I am certainly not in a position to comment, it seemed that the author was reluctant to come to any definitive conclusion about whether this was a terrible thing, or just another power struggle, in the same way that banks and tax authorities want to interfere and impoverish.

It made me want to visit the place (even more than previously) but added to my concerns about visiting foreign lands. To put it in context, being a Welshman living in England, I feel the same way about Scotland.

[Augustus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very readable short history of Sicily. It passes briefly through Sicily's ancient history where Greek cities mixed with Carthaginians and later with Romans. It does, however, hit the highlights of the island's ancient and medieval history before concentrating on the last seven centuries. The author explains the rise of the Cosa Nostra, partly in reaction to the unification under Garibaldi. He also tracks the extreme range of Italian political parties up through the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. He does a good job showing how Sicily was influenced by outside forces across the Mediterranean and how the island often followed a different path than what is now northern Italy. He explains interactions between Sicily and Italian emigres in the United States, while also explaining the hardships associated with slow economic development. The book would have benefited from some photographs and more than one map, but it's a recommended introduction to the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.

[Christopher Cerone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an eminently readable book about the fascinating history of Sicily. I read it prior to visiting the Italian island. It helped paved the way for a highly enjoyable and enlightening visit to Trapani, Segesta, Palermo, Cefalù and Monreale. Reading the book grounded me in the complex and rich history of Sicily, including its many ruling empires (Greek, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spanish and French), its incredible Arab-Norman churches, its vacillating and turbulent fascination with fascism, socialism and democracy, and its continued efforts to cope with the Cosa Nostra. The author provides keen insights on famous and obscure sights to see (Praetorian Fountain, the Inquisition prison in the Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steri) and details to enjoy (especially in The Triumph of Death painting and the Monreale Cathedral). Enjoy this frolicking, and ultimately hopeful, account of one of the most historically significant and beautiful islands in the world.