Mafia: The Complete History of a Criminal World

by Jo Durden-Smith

Oversized Hardcover Book massively illustrated that depicts & describes the history of the Mafia. Loaded with photos of notorious gangsters like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Vito Genovese, Joe Columbo, and John Gotti.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Jo Durden Smith was a British author and a documentary film maker.
He was educated at Haileybury and Merton College, Oxford. He worked for World in Action, Granada TV's documentary team, where his rock films were made.
Subsequently he lived in New York, and then Moscow. He was a columnist for The Moscow Times, to 1997.

Reviews

[Anthony Stillo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well it certainly tries to do what it says on the cover.

[Dean · Rating 2 out of 5]

It touts itself as "the compete history of a criminal world," but it comes far short of a complete history. It's a big book if you use a tape measure for a guide, and a big book if you look at the print, but there's maybe more wasted white space inside than most books I've ever read. Photos that would be interesting are small, and pictures that would be okay if small were blown up as large as possible. There were a few items that were of interest, and some things were covered well, but a lot of history was glossed over, even to the point of not even hitting some of the highlights. It was an okay read, but as far as a good non-fiction "mob" book, it left a lot to be desired.

[Adrielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't learn much from this, most of it is mafia stories most people will already know. However, the images throughout provide good reference.

[Cess Que · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like a picture book than a fact-book but still quite entertaining. A must-have for mafia enthusiasts :)

[Yuliy Sozin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introductory read for those who want to know more about the phenomenon that is Mafia.