Włosi

by John Hooper, Piotr Grzegorzewski (Translator), Marcin Wróbel (Translator)

Dlaczego Włosi mają kilkanaście określeń na wieszak, a ani jednego na kaca? Jak to możliwe, że ten sam naród stworzył największe dzieła sztuki i muzyki... i mafię? Dlaczego wyborców obchodzi to, jaką bieliznę nosi premier?

Jak naród, który zrodził renesans, mógł stworzyć również mafię? I dlaczego gnocchi podaje się w Rzymie głównie w czwartki? Wzniosłe i oszałamiające, fascynujące, ale zaskakujące Włochy to kraj niekończących się paradoksów i pozornie nierozwiązanych zagadek.

Zabawna i wnikliwa książka Włosi to idealna lektura dla każdego, kto stara się zrozumieć współczesną Italię i unikalny charakter jej mieszkańców. John Hooper pisze o Włochach z sympatią, ale nie bezkrytycznie. Opisuje wpływ Kościoła katolickiego na ich codzienne życie, dowodząc, iż szacunek dla papieża niekoniecznie idzie w parze z przestrzeganiem jego zaleceń. Obowiązkowe czwartkowe gnocchi, niezwykle oficjalna atmosfera miejsc pracy, opinia najlepszych kochanków świata i niechęć do nowinek technicznych – to zaledwie kilka kwestii, które autor porusza, wychodząc daleko poza stereotyp beztroskich, głośnych, kochających życie Włochów.

Hooper, który spędził 15 lat w Rzymie jako korespondent zagraniczny, przekonująco ukazuje wpływ geografii, historii i tradycji na wiele aspektów włoskiego życia, w tym futbol, masonerię, seks, jedzenie i operę. Pełna fascynujących i często zabawnych spostrzeżeń, niedostępnych w przewodnikach, Włosi zaskoczą nawet najbardziej zagorzałych miłośników Italii.

Genres: Nonfiction, Italy, History, Travel, Audiobook, Italian Literature, Cultural

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 29, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Hooper is currently the Rome correspondent for the Economist and the Guardian. Born in 1950, Hooper was educated at St Benedict’s Abbey in London and St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. At the age of eighteen, he travelled to Biafra during the Nigerian civil war to make a television documentary. Since then, he has spent more than 20 years as a foreign correspondent, working for - among others - the Economist, the Guardian, the Observer, BBC, NBC and Reuters. For several years in London, he was a presenter of BBC World Service’s ‘Twenty Four Hours’ current affairs programme.

For three years, he covered Spain’s eventful transformation from a dictatorship into a democracy. That posting and another, from 1988 to 1994, produced two books on Spain for Penguin, The Spaniards, which won the Allen Lane award for 1987, and its successor, The New Spaniards.

In 1997, he uncovered the so-called “ship of death” migrant trafficking disaster and was a member of the award-winning Observer team that investigated its aftermath.

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book got off to a poor start - I didn't enjoy the first two chapters, the first which dealt with the geography of Italy. All in all I found the whole book a bit pedestrian. To be honest I got more from Tobias Jones' book "The Dark Heart of Italy"

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The problem may well be me. This book was written by a correspondent for The Economist and The Guardian, who was based in Rome for 15 years. You don't get much more qualified than that. Plus it received outstanding reviews from our national papers. But I only found it a reasonably interesting, straight-forward account of life in Italy.....for me it wasn't gripping. I think Tobias Jones' book was more sensationalist, which probably appealed to my lurid sensibilities. (Oh yup, I've got them.)

I shall end with my usual smattering of notes re various oddities that interested me

Bureaucracy

Italy is notorious for its complicated bureaucracy. This complexity is meant to prevent corruption, but instead it facilitates it. There are four layers of government - national, regional, provincial and municipal, and any relatively large project will require approval of several and often all four levels. Often their political orientations are different, so a project welcomed by one sector will be rejected by another. In 2012, the multinational gas producer BG gave up on plans to build a giant liquefied natural gas terminal near the port of Brindisi, after eleven years of wrestling with the various layers of authority. By then it had spent some 250 million euros.

Truth is arguable

Whatever the reason, a lack of belief in ascertainable truth, and even in incontrovertible facts, can be detected in many aspects of Italian society from the media to the legal system and from politics to macro-economics. In all sorts of areas, issues remain stubbornly disputable, no matter how much hard fact is thrown at them. The implicit - if not explicit - acknowledgement of more than one truth gives rise to some of the distinctive characteristics of Italian journalism. The conventions under which journalists operate do not make for the kind of clarity to which the media normally aspire.

Immigrants

The status of immigrants here is ambiguous. The underlying reality was that Italian politicians, like their peers in the rest of Europe, realized their country needed immigrants. Privately, they would admit it. Because of Italy's ultra-low birth rate, it had to take in people from outside if its economy was to grow and its welfare state - and, in particular, its pension system - was to remain sustainable.

Cheating in exams

This is more acceptable in Italy than many other countries. When younger, Silvio Berlusconi used to sell essays he'd written to his fellow students. There are all sorts of gizmos offered for sale on websites catering to students, with hidden departments to facilitate cheating - eg pens, watches, sweatshirts and mobile phones. The biggest challenge comes from hacking, because school exam questions are now sent electronically, rather than by post. Now they can be accessed by a determined teenage hacker and distributed nationally.

The courts

In parts of Italy there are people who, for a relatively modest sum will go into court and perjure themselves on your behalf - they will make up stories to prove your innocence. No, you weren't driving on the wrong side of the road before the accident - they saw you driving on the right side. To a striking extent, trials in Italy, and particularly high profile ones, can become a morass of conflicting evidence.

Vodaphone on the sly

Vodaphone is one of the few firms to have successfully penetrated the Italian market. It now has 1/3rd of the market. It offers the Italians a unique service known as "Alter Ego", which enables customers to have two numbers on the same SIM card. Perfect for people who want to cheat, or anyone who wants to make themselves temporarily unavailable. Vodaphone say this is a 'local market initiative'. It is unavailable elsewhere.

Gesticulating

Most Italians gesticulate a lot, and use strong facial expressions. They are naturally theatrical. Sometimes they have difficulty reading people from more northern countries, as they find them inscrutable. "Our expressions of surprise or disappointment or annoyance or whatever are so much less evident than theirs we just go "under their radar". It is certainly more difficult to show Italians that you are angry. So you gradually develop an ability to lose your temper at will. As you turn up the volume and your physical gestures become increasingly expansive, you suddenly begin to speak their language.

Beauty

Italians are fascinated by outward appearances and have a "sheer enthusiasm for beauty that infuses life in Italy"... Their true outstanding contribution to mankind have been the arts, and particularly the visual arts. In Britain and the US, beauty is thought of as entirely separated from virtue, but in Italy the two concepts overlap. There is three times as much plastic surgery as there in in the UK. Often people who are handicapped are kept at home, and out of sight. You see far fewer of them on the streets than you do elsewhere. You also see very few women outside in the last months of pregnancy.

Life is sacred

Italians feel that life is so precious it must be prolonged and protected to the very last. This even extends to animals. A foreign vet - a friend of the author - said that owners were notably more reluctant than the British or Americans to get their pets euthanized. They are also deeply appalled by the idea of capital punishment.

Food glorious food

Cuisine for the Italians is what the weather is for the British - a suitable topic of conversation with strangers. The everyday pleasure of eating is hallowed. They are very conservative about their food though, and innovation and foreign foods are not welcome.

Conservatives tendencies

Italians generally love the familiar and mistrust the new.

Property

Italians love investing in land and houses. In 2008 they had eighteen times as much invested in real estate as they did in securities of all kinds. In the US the ratio is only two to one.

Gambling

In recent years they have become enthusiastic gamblers. They are the 5th highest gambling nation in the world (outside specific gambling destinations.) The gambling organisations there say that they have become Italy's third biggest industry.

Religion

By and large Catholicism makes greater allowances than Protestantism for human frailty, and it has doubtless contributed towards much that is commendable in Italy: compassion, a reluctance to judge and a readiness to forgive.

Church attendance.

America 47%
Italy 31%
Spain 22%
UK 23%

Mussolini and women

Under Mussolini, women were banned from applying for senior posts in secondary education; the proportion of women on the staff of public and private enterprises was capped at 10%, and if a company had less than ten employees it could not hire women at all.

The Church and women v the cinema and women.

From the late 1940s to the early 1960s successive governments worked hand-in-hand with the Church to propagate an idea of Italian femininity akin to that which radiates from the plaster statues of the Madonna to be found in many a Catholic church,. Try as they might though, there was a striking dichotomy between, on the one hand, the idea of Italian womanhood disseminated inside the country by its priests and politicians and, on the other, the altogether more complex images projected to the outside world, largely through the medium of film.

Women and work

The area in which Italy scored the worst was economic participation. Recent EU and OECD figures have put the number of women in employment at around half the total female population - the lowest proportion in any large EU state. There are twice as many women as men who say they are keen to work but have given up looking for a job. It is clear that many of them only stay at home reluctantly.

Birth rate

This has plunged from a peak of over 20 per 1000 in the 1960s, to 9 per 1000 in 2011.

Football

Italy is passionate about football, and has taken home four World Cups, more than any other country except Brazil.

Difficulty in doing business

Year after year Italy has slipped down the world Bank's ease-of-doing business table. By 2012 it had fallen to 73rd place in a list of 185 countries; one place behind Romania and six behind Azerbaijan. It was easier to reinforce a contract in Togo than it was in Italy (partly because of the sluggishness of the courts), and harder to get electricity laid on than in India. Then there was widespread corruption and the danger you might cross paths with one of several organized crime syndicates.

But crime is not what you would expect

It may come as a surprise by Italy is not a particularly crime-ridden country. There is a sizeable variation between regions, but the overall rate of reported crime are nevertheless much lower than in other European countries of the same size. Many in Italy feel outraged when foreigners identify their country with the mafia. They point out that organised crime is found everywhere.

Micro-cars: the "Macchinette"

One phenomenon of Italy is the "macchinette" or micro-car, with a 500cc engine, that you can drive as soon as you turn fourteen. You can also drive it if you have lost your licence because of reckless or drunken driving. Macchinettes can easily be adjusted to go at well over their legal maximum speed of 45 kph, and are involved in about twice as many accidents as ordinary cars.

Italy's finances

The decade in which Silvio Berlusconi dominated Italy's public life was disastrous for the economy. Towards the end of the period, there was a moment when the only two countries with a worse economic performance were Haiti (which had been hit by a devastating earthquake) and Zimbabwe.

The problems were not all of Berlusconi's making. Like other countries in southern Europe, Italy had adopted the euro without fully appreciating that it meant competing on a level playing field with the other members of the single-currency zone, including Germany. In the past, Italy had been able to restore its competitiveness and keep its exports booming by means of devaluation. After it joined the euro zone that was no longer possible. Unlike Spain and Portugal, moreover, Italy was saddled with an extraordinarily high level of public debt. For the most part, this was the result of the Italians having given themselves a modern welfare state without building an economy strong enough to afford one. But it was also the price of a fair amount of waste and corruption.

In 2011 Italy's morale was very low. The country seemed to be heading towards default on its huge debts, as investors' confidence in the Berlusconi government's ability to manage the economy sank, and the interest rates on Italy's government bonds soared. The view of many Italians is that their country is doomed to relative decline.

Between 2003 and 2014 the numbers of Italians who emigrated more than doubled, and they were largely graduates.

Reviews:

The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/bo...

The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...

An interview at The Economist (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9os6m...

[Dana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since I’m Italian, I gravitated toward John Hooper’s “The Italians” and was convinced I would love it. So, I was really surprised when I didn’t. The best parts of this book were Hooper’s personal stories that took place when he was in Italy. His experience brought the “new perspective” touted on the back of the back cover of the book to life in the pages. This is why I felt that Chapter three should have been the first Chapter- the book should have started with a bang rather than the dry facts of Chapter one. It wasn’t until three chapters in that I finally felt a connection between Hooper, Italy, and history in a way that would be interesting. Yet, these personal experiences were hard to find in the rest of the book, ultimately making this a two star read for me.

The footnotes annoyed me to no end. Footnotes should not be included in a book that claims to be an “exciting” retelling of Italian history. Also, a book about Italy just should not have a chapter titled, “Hall of Mirrors.” The writing was also off. Sometimes Hooper referred to readers as “you” and other times, the book took on a more distant approach.

Overall, there was too much information crammed into too short of a space without enough development. Hooper raced through so much time and so many events, that I hardly knew what he was talking about since there hadn’t been any real explanation of these things. The examples he gave to illustrate a point needed to be further developed so that the reader actually cared about what happened and fully understood the ramifications. Three paragraphs about one topic before leaping off in another direction just didn't work for me.

I received a copy of this book through the Goodreads’ program in exchange for an honest review.

Please read more of my reviews on my blog: http://fastpageturner.wordpress.com
or follow me on twitter at @dana_heyde

[Cristian · Rating 5 out of 5]

After living, working and studying in Milan for 3 years I thought I knew Italians and I do, to some degree. And that is exactly why I loved this book. John Hooper does something I couldn't do while living there. I always sense so many things about Italians but I was not sure weather it was only me or there was something about them. The way they behave, relate to each other, eat, dance, talk, conspire and live their lives was quite unique. Most of the time I was upset with them, unable to unlock their ways, trying to navigate the day to day. I wish I had read this book before going there. It would have done everything simpler.
Italy is complex, yet wonderful in its own ways. I had to work my way up to make it in the country. Specially Milano. And believe me, for us foreigners, there are so many things we just don't get about Italians and most of them are written in this wonderful book.
This is not a book about food, landscape or history, is a book about the people inhabiting a territory. It is a great book about people full of paradoxes.
Most of the time I read fast but this time, I went slowly, one chapter a day, digesting the words and reflecting on Italians. You will not be disappointed with this incredible portrait of a fascinating country.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first received notification I won an ARC copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads, I was exited. I have Italian ancestry and hoped to learn more about my heritage. This book did not fulfill that goal. It serves as a commentary on the current Italian society. Historical tidbits were worked in only when it helped explain something current.

The author is not Italian, but lives in Italy as a foreign reporter. His love for Italy shines through and much of his commentary is based on his experiences; little is research-based. While his stories added color, I could not help wondering if he focused in on what he knew and left out things that should have been included. I also felt that his experiences were highly geography-based (in and around Rome) and he may not have shed a full light on Italy's other regions.

Overall, an interesting read, however ill-researched and biased. On the writing, the text flowed but better division of subtopics would have been nice. Perhaps that will be fixed in the publication copy.

Reader's advisory: To learn more about Italian history try reading works by Christopher Duggan, Denis Mack Smith, and Lucy Riall. Works by all three authors were invaluable when I wrote my senior honors thesis in college on the Italian reunification process.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

What are Italians like? If you are interested in learning the inside story on contemporary Italians, especially Italian culture, Italian history, and Italian politics, then this is the book I'd recommend. Even if you are just planning a casual visit to Italy, this is a book I'd put on your reading list.

[Faustibooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite a nice book to read. In a way, I wish I had read it before living in Italy, as I learned some interesting and useful things on Italian society. But I enjoyed reading it while living here, as it fun to have my own assumptions and judgements confirmed or denied by this book. Italy is a beautiful country with a fascinating history and culture, but it also has its problems. This book gives a very brief overview of this which manages to stay engaging and interesting.

[Maćkowy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kolejna książka o Włoszech autorstwa Anglika* i kolejna dość mocno krytyczna, nie wiem o co im chodzi, ale to dość zabawne, że to jedyna nacja pisząca tyle o Półwyspie Apenińskim, jednocześnie traktując Włochów z takim "pobłażaniem". W każdym razie "Włosi" to książka bardzo ciekawa. Autor, wieloletni korespondent prasowy Guradiana, Observera i The Economist z Południowej Europy (oraz mieszkaniec Rzymu), opowiada o historii i teraźniejszości Włochów przybliżając czytelnikowi wiele ważnych aspektów włoskiego życia (polityka, religia, wiara, calcio, mafia, wiara i Watykan i tak dalej).

John Hooper jest wnikliwym obserwatorem, jasno formułuje myśli, co jest niezwykle istotne, gdy opisuje na przykład niezwykle zawiłe niuanse włoskiej polityki, czy różnic między regionami kraju.
Wszystkie wywody Hoopera poparte są albo statystykami, albo wynikami badań (zdaje się, że dziennikarz bardzo lubi takie rzeczy), jednak książka nie stała się przez to sucha, bo autor równoważy "twarde dane" wplatając do każdego rozdziału osobiste obserwacje z życia Włochów, przez co lektura jest przyjemna jak filiżanka espresso wypita letnim rankiem na tarasie toskańskiej willi, no i do tego ta piękna okładka robi niesamowitą robotę.

"Włosi" nie jest jednak książką bez wad. Co jest jej największą bolączką oprócz niechęci autora do południowego stylu życia? Nie ma nic o festiwalu w San Remo... Żart. Największą bolączką jest to, że "Włosi" zostali wydani w 2014 roku i brak tu jakiegokolwiek uzupełnienia, postscriptum, epilogu, czy nawet drobnego posłowia do wydania polskiego, a chodzi mi oczywiście o pandemię, która niedawno zmieniła nasz świat, szczególnie mocno dotknęła zaś północne Włochy. Poza tym, siłą rzeczy, najświeższe statystki i badania na które powołuje się autor datowane są 2010 rok - cóż - w dzisiejszym świecie dwanaście lat to sporo... Poza tym nic tylko brać i czytać.


*Wcześniej czytałem: Calcio. Historia włoskiego futbolu. autorstwa Johna Foota i Neapol ’44. Pamiętnik oficera wywiadu z okupowanych Włoch Normana Daviesa.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much! I know very little about the Italians except for their love of pasta, they have or had the mob! This book taught me so much about the country, the peoples --- and I have NEVER had so much fun reading a history book! It made me smile, chuckle and I now know more then I probably will ever need about Italy and it's people --- but was a pure joy to read!

It school history had been half as much fun we'd all be a lot smarter!

[Karolina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Z opisu pochodzącego od wydawcy liczymy na lekką opowieść o kulturze i tożsamości Włochów, o tym, dlaczego ich kraj jest tak uwielbiamy. W rzeczywistości dostajemy książkę wypełnioną statystykami, pomieszanym chronologicznie faktami, który daje obraz chaosu, przez co ciężko jest przyswoić owe informacje. Duże rozczarowanie, brak konsekwencji. Uważam, że należałoby zmienić opis pochodzący od wydawcy, by nie wprowadzać czytelników w błąd. Książka ma zdecydowanie więcej wspólnego z polityką i ekonomią niż z kulturą i ciekawostkami pochodzącymi z włoskich domostw.

[Italo Italophiles · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are fascinated with modern Italy and modern Italians, you might enjoy this book. If you are more interested in the achievements of past Italians in the fields of art, architecture, literature and music, this is not the book for you. If you are a person of faith, especially of the Catholic faith, you may be offended by the author's anti-Catholic and anti-faith bias.

The author is a journalist, so the anecdotes and examples he uses to elucidate the modern Italian's generalized character often come from recent events, interviews, or recent books by others. He even quotes from the classic book with the same title, The Italians by Luigi Barzini. To be honest, I found it a bit odd to use the same title as Barzini's classic...but to each his own.

The book begins by explaining Italy's geography, and uses it as a reason for the diversity of language and sub-cultures in Italy. The next section tries to cover Italy's 3000 year history, but as always when one tries to summarize Italian history, it passes in a blur. The sections after that address a single subject but there is much overlapping, and much jumping around in time.

Some sections will likely confuse readers, such as the one on politics, since Italian politics is a confusing mess, with hundreds of political parties each called by nothing more than their initials, which the author uses with ease, being an experience journalist. As the author admits, in Italy: ...all sorts of things are immensely complicated.

There is an inherent risk with books that attempt to describe a national character of a people: the generalizations do not fit everyone, and can be insulting to a huge swath of a country's population. The author attempts to address this, but I'm not sure he succeeds in that.

There is also a risk when focusing on one Mediterranean country to ignore the fact that most all Mediterranean countries share similar traits and problems. Many authors ascribe Mediterranean traits to Italians as if they were unique. That is not the case. The reasons for this are partly historical and partly economic. But the truth is that Italians share many traits with Greeks, Spaniards, the French, Moroccans, Algerians...

The tone of the book is chatty, with many Italian words peppering the text. If you are at all familiar with Italian society, you will not be surprised with the author's description of the low trust society centered around the family with women generally treated as second-class citizens.

I imagine the book would be most interesting to those who wish to live in Italy for some time, either for work or for pleasure. It makes a wonderful get-up-to-speed-on-recent-events sort of read. I received it as a review-copy.

I enjoyed the parts that discussed the artistic works of artists like Pirandello, Collodi, Verdi, and the elements of Commedia dell'Arte and Opera and how they related to a generalized Italian character. I did not enjoy the attempts at psychological explanations for Italian traits. Nor did I enjoy the anti-Papist bigotry and anti-faith bias of the author. But that is just me...

Please visit my full and illustrated review at Italophile Book Reviews.
http://italophilebookreviews.blogspot...

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Goodreads Giveaway. Thank You!
“The Italians” introduces us to the geographical diversity of Italy and its history. And that is where Mr. Hooper lost me. So many facts listed, one after another. It reads almost like a textbook. The theater of the judicial system in Italy held my attention, but not much more. I may just set aside this book for now and try rereading it again at a later date.

[Książkara Kamila 🍂 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spodziewałam się czegoś lepszego :///

[Biblio Files (takingadayoff) · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Hooper is a journalist who has spent many years living and working in Italy. Previously he worked and lived in Spain and wrote The New Spaniards. The Italians is similar to that book. He takes a big picture view of the country, examining its history, the system of justice, politics, crime (including the Mafia), religion, and so on. Obviously, that's a lot to take on, so it's a survey, not a deep down inspection.

As revealing and informative as I found The Italians, I also found that this broad brush method left me wondering more about the people as individuals. Certainly it's valuable to learn about the political parties and the fading influence of the Catholic Church. But, as an example, I want to know what Italians do on their vacations. In travels through the popular tourist spots in Europe and the U.S., I rarely see Italian tourists. Do they go elsewhere? Stay home? Travel within Italy? What kind of books do they like to read? What's on Italian TV? Hooper gave me meat and potatoes, and I still wanted a gelato to top off my meal.

It isn't fair to take issue with The Italians for not being fluffy enough for my taste. It's a comprehensive and well-researched look at Italy today and I learned an amazing amount about the country. And like so many books by journalists, it's clear and to the point. It's definitely a book you'll want to read before or during a trip to Italy, whether it's your first trip or twentieth.

(Thanks to NetGalley and Viking for a digital review copy.)

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book through GoodReads FirstReads.
This was an interesting read. The author has a somewhat roundabout way of discussing points, then digressing and coming back to them later, so it has a sort of meandering, professorial style. It's not really a travel guide, and it's not really a memoir, so much as the author's interpretation of various aspects of the national Italian culture (such as privacy, family, and manliness) from the perspective of a bemused but affectionate foreign corespondent.
While it can be dangerous to make generalizations about an entire nationality, the author does his best to back it up with evidence, both professional (national surveys and statistics) and personal (anecdotes and experiences). He also looks at how the country's history and geography has shaped its culture and sense of nationalism.
I enjoyed the discussions about the intricacies of the Italian language and the histories of various words.
While I think this book could have been organized a bit better, I thought it was overall a warm and heartfelt effort at explaining some of the aspects of Italian habits, customs, and traditions from the viewpoint of an immigrant journalist.
Overall, a pretty good read for anyone who enjoys reading about Italian history, politics, or culture, and is willing to accept some generalizations.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Italy correspondent for The Economist and Southern Europe editor of the Guardian and the Observer, John Hooper writes with authority about a country beset by paradox, where an obsession with bella figura (creating a good impression) goes hand in hand with dietrologia (suspicion of what lies beneath the surface).

Like all attempts to sum up the character of a nation, this one ocasionally falls into generalisations. Italian has no word for accountability, Hooper declares, with a breezy disregard for linguistic processes. But on the whole he avoids such pitfalls, marshalling the evidence with care and paying due regard to the arguments on both sides.

He's particularly good on the political and economic backdrop to modern Italy, the impact of the Vatican on cultural mores and the bureaucratic idiosyncrasies that bedevil every aspect of Italian life. This is a country which responded to administrative over-kill by creating a Ministry of Simplification. It is also the country that gave us both the Renaissance and Silvio Berlsuconi.

Hooper sifts intelligently through its complexities and contradictions. The result is an engaging and entertaining portrait of a country that for hundreds of years has been at the very centre of European identity, even when it has been unsure of its own.

[TienvoorNegen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've enjoyed reading this book! I can't say I'll remember all of it, but at least my understanding of Italy and the way the country and inhabitants relate to each other and the outside world is a bit enhanced.
(My starting point were a shamefully meager collection of good food- Roman Empire-holiday country-pope-mafia - lampedusa- images)
I must say the book was a nice surprise. Sure, there's bound to be stereotypes in abundance in it, but the topics and chapters ranged to cover a very diverse view on Italian society. The book was written in 2013, so it is reasonably up to date.

[Mela]

In the beginning, it was gripping and fascinating. Yet, nearing the middle I got bored. It isn't that it wasn't interesting, I just think that for now, I have enough of the Italians ;-) Perhaps I will read the second half some other day.

[Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've lived in Barcelona for 5 or so years. It didn't take long to notice that by far the largest immigrant group in the city are Italians and this discovery left me wondering what drew so many to live in what seemed, at least to me, like a similar country and culture. The explanation, at least in part, lies is the thesis of this book: that Italy is a gerontocracy, where the past is reified, change is despised and the economic and social system is purposefully constructed to preserve the grip of the older generations over the younger ones. Spain, by comparison, is a country keen to move on from its history and become modern. As a city of youthful hedonism, global cultural fusion and the celebration of all things modern, Barcelona has no equivalent in Italy.

The gloomy portrait of Italy found in The Italians can make it a tough read; indeed, I found almost every chapter to be relentlessly negative. To summarise the main argument made in each of the first 13 chapters with an adjective: Hooper suggests Italians are humiliated, colonised, crafty, fantasists, liars, vain, uninventive, technophobic, theocratic, sexist, unfaithful, dependent and distrustful. The last five or so chapters go into great depth on the political and judicial corruption, systematic criminality and regional inequality and racism that have helped to make Italy the unhappiest country in Europe in survey after survey.

That is not to say that The Italians is just an anti-Italian polemic. Indeed, Hooper himself does have positive things to say about Italy: it is a beautiful country full of beautiful people, delicious food and great art (but not modern art, where I was astounded to learn the first contemporary art gallery was not set up until 2010). But fixation on systematic analysis, however nuanced and tentative, inevitably focuses on the problems and controversies of Italian life. In contrast to a book like Giles Tremlett's Ghosts of Spain, The Italians is missing the human element of what it is like to actually live and work in this country. We learn nothing of Hooper's personal or social life - and get no sense of the pleasures of living a life embedded in this fabulous society.

I also have my doubts about just how much evidence there is to support much of Hooper claims to be definitive truth. Although he occasionally admits to not being certain of all his conclusions and includes rather sporadic footnotes, most of his claims are made without qualification or supporting evidence. Take for instance this paragraph about the supposed fixation on public appearance in Italian culture:

"Dread of facendo una brutta figura is omnipresent in Italian society. It explains why there are so few laundrettes, and why the few that do exist are used mostly by poor immigrants and foreign students. It is why Italians put on suntan cream before they get to the beach or pool. It is why town and city councils arrange for their best-looking cops to direct the traffic in the main square. And why Italians above a certain social standing are reluctant to travel on public transport."

While this paints a rich and provocative picture of Italy, I have no way to judge if any of it is true or simply anecdotes cherry picked to support his arguments. Of course, books of this kind suffer from this problem to an extent, the overwhelming extent of it in the Italians significantly undermined its credibility for me.

Overall, I would recommend The Italians as a way to understand the context of the forces that shape modern Italians' lives, but to get a sense of who they are directly, this is not the book to read.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not an Italophile, but am interested in learning about other places, and the audio sample seemed pretty good, so I decided to get this one.

Basically, it's an overview of aspects of Italian culture that have struck the expat author as ... notable: rampant cheating on exams, string resistance to eating foreign foods, wearing sunglasses on cloudy days, the mixed feelings on religion, and so forth; his section on (organized) crime near the end got a bit deep in the weeds for me, but otherwise I found the book interesting.

Honestly, 3.5 stars for content; however, the audio narration was enthusiastic, without being over-the-top, so it gets rounded up for that.

[Lesya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the perfect book for me exactly now. I am an American with an Italian boyfriend, and this book discussed so many points of discussion and confusion between us, so opinions that I thought were his but turns out are quintessentially Italian. I would 1000% recommend this book for anyone like me, anyone non-Italian (specifically from the US or UK) who is either very close to or living in Italy, otherwise I imagine it would be quite boring. That said, perfect for me, I'm super glad this book exists. (And I would really love to read a book like this about Americans!!)

[Dorota Winch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book as I’ve seen so many good reviews and I wanted to know more about Italy, which I love visiting over and over again, but I did not enjoyed this book at all! The writing style was so dry, that I felt like I was reading some sort of an academic book or encyclopaedia. And so I nearly DNF-d it a few times. But I can appreciate its content, as I’ve learnt a lot, but it was a really painful experience for me.

[Antonio Gallo · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'anglomania sta all'italofobia come l'anglofobia sta all'italomania. Un rapporto di amore odio caratterizza da sempre gli inglesi e gli italiani. La prova la trovate nel gran numero di libri, articoli e relazioni che intercorrono da sempre tra i due paesi tanto vicini quanto lontani. Davvero infinito è il numero dei libri scritti sull'Italia e sugli Italiani da parte degli inglesi, e ancora se ne pubblicano di continuo.

Tra i più attenti, scrupolosi ed anche eruditi scrittori sul Bel Paese, sicuramente gli inglesi sono più numerosi degli italiani che scrivono sull'Inghilterra. Molto spesso capita di imbattermi in un nuovo libro scritto su di noi. Nonostante ne abbia ormai molti nella biblioteca personale, mi viene sempre la tentazione di leggere l'ultimo per comprensibili ragioni. I tempi cambiano, come del resto le situazioni, i personaggi, gli eventi. Trovo interessante leggere cosa scrivono i nostri cari amici inglesi. Questo recentissimo libro mi offre l'opportunità di aggiornarmi non solo su di me, su di voi e su di noi Italiani come persone, ma anche sul nostro Paese che resta, nonostante tutto, uno dei paesi più amati ed invidiati del mondo.

John Hooper è un affermato ed autorevole giornalista scrittore, conosce bene l'Italia ed è autore di questo libro che ho letto in versione digitale. Diviso in 19 capitoli il volume lo si legge che è un vero piacere. Sembra di essere accompagnati da una guida fedele ed affidabile, che sa cosa dice e lo dice in maniera autorevole. Potrebbe essere la relazione di un diplomatico britannico che scrive alla regina o al ministro degli esteri sull'aria che tira nel Paese che lo ospita come ambasciatore. Il tutto come nella grande tradizione classica dei rappresentanti britannici sul nostro suolo.

Del resto non è facile, per un osservatore straniero, avere una chiara idea di quello che siamo. Siamo sempre in divenire, tutto accade con riserva, da noi e per noi non c'è nulla di definitivo, di chiaro e certo. Hooper sa quello che pensa, ma lo dice sempre, oltre che con riserva e riserbo, con garbo. Come un "knight", un cavaliere inglese. Ma cosa dice di noi con esattezza? Diciannove sono i capitoli del libro. Ognuno di essi è un saggio su un particolare aspetto del paese Italia. Nel primo analizza gli effetti geografici che hanno influenzato la identità nazionale, nell'ultimo discute l'attuale significato del concetto di "italianità", in uno stato che venne definito "una espressione geografica". Una espressione, appunto, che chiarisce ben poco, una scappatoia per non ammettere di non saper dire cosa sia veramente.

Di quale Italia si parla? L'Italia del Veneto o del Mezzogiorno? Quella della Mafia o del Vaticano? Dell' "AC Milan" o della Scala? Un labirinto nel quale l'autore cerca di entrare con grande cautela, evitando le generalizzazioni, senza sciogliere le particolarità, per definire le eccezioni. Un lavoro non facile per chi in Italia ci è nato e ci vive, figuriamoci poi per uno straniero. Non ricordavo, ad esempio, che il nostro inno nazionale, quello di Mameli, solo dieci anni fa, nel 2005, è stato ratificato essere inno nazionale. Quanti si rendono conto che non esiste una Mafia, ma ce ne sono tre? Camorra, Cosa Nostra e 'Ndrangheta del resto sono voci alla ribalta quotidiana, forse non tanto chiare nemmeno a noi, figurarsi poi ad un straniero.

Che dire poi della Giustizia? Anzi, del sistema giudiziario? Un sistema, appunto, che per definizione dovrebbe essere "rigido" ed invece si scopre essere uno dei più "flessibili" al mondo, con tutti i suoi gradi di giudizio e i suoi tempi di attuazione? Chi avrebbe poi detto che, passando ad un argomento più leggero, il manager dell' "AC Milan" sia ancora chiamato "Mister", continuando un'antica tradizione nata dal fatto che il club venne fondato da un inglese qualche secolo fa?

Singolarità, sorprese e anomalie non mancano di essere segnalate. Ma queste non fanno perdere di vista l'obbiettivo principale dello scrittore di approfondimenti che ormai noi Italiani non facciamo, abituati come siamo alle nostre peculiarità. Come quella di avere ben dodici parole diverse per attaccapanni. Che dire poi degli arabeschi, delle indeterminatezze della politica italiana? Egli scrive letteralmente: "Tutte le cose restano flessibili, è necessario che restino complicate o vaghe, forse meglio se l'una e l'altra". Si spiegano, così, come quattro livelli di amministrazione politica, locale, provinciale, regionale e nazionale, non possano avere sempre una loro propria specifica forza e chiarezza nella soluzione dei problemi. Nessun progetto potrà essere realizzato in tempi brevi e senza imbrogli. Così anche gli imbrogli hanno un loro senso, se non addirittura una giustificazione.

Un fatto "culturale", quindi, che merita di essere analizzato. Hooper dice, e non sbaglia, che in Italia raramente hai, ottieni, ti viene dato quello che vedi.

"L'uso dei simboli e delle metafore, illusione e realtà continuamente si intrecciano, la verità non può mai essere assoluta o almeno valida per quasi tutti. Tutta questa atmosfera rende la vita italiana "intriguing".

I gesti, le apparenze, le maschere, le citazioni, nel bene e nel male, tendono tutte a smarrire la sostanza, camminando invece verso quella espressione che solo in questo paese sembra essere, se non un comandamento, almeno una legge non scritta. Quella, cioè, di fare o non fare, a seconda dei casi, una "bella figura".

Una espressione come questa la ritrovi in tutte le situazioni e collocazioni, dai posizionamenti politici dei parlamentari che cambiano partito e non ci fanno una "bella figura", a quella delle donne italiane che hanno il primato delle chirurgia plastica. L'occhio vuole la sua parte. L'apparire vince sempre sull'essere. Hooper osserva che l'Italia è il più grande paese al mondo produttore di occhiali da sole, un attrezzo legato all'aspetto esteriore, la "bella figura", appunto. Questa esteriorità Hooper la collega, in maniera appena convincente, ad un aspetto importante della società italiana che è il cosi detto "trasformismo". Lui cita, non a caso, una statistica in cui si dice che una prostituta su venti in questo paese è un travestito o un transessuale. Una delle diverse facce del trasformismo. Tranne poi ritenere l'omosessualità una malattia.

Per quanto riguarda la politica poi l'autore sostiene che sembra essere sempre la stessa. Egli liquida la faccenda ricordando quello che Mussolini disse sugli Italiani, vale a dire che era "inutile" governarli. Le debolezze nazionali alla base della politica, quali il nepotismo, il favoritismo, l'interferenza delle varie mafie, spesso il peso morto della tradizione e di una sostanziale ambiguità ideologica, fanno della politica italiana un'arte abbastanza difficile. In una statistica del 2012 l'Italia risultava essere al 72 posto per "probità", dieci posizioni dietro alla Romania. Sia detto senza offesa.

Eppure, eppure ... che posto straordinario che è l'Italia, si affretta a dire Hooper con il suo perdurante senso del "sacro", indipendentemente dalla presenza del Vaticano. Una "sacralità" tutta "odorosa di incenso", una persistente presenza di "gentilezza", di "leggerezza", tutto proprio della sempre presente idea di "bella figura", per se stessi e per gli altri.

Altre parole chiave che l'autore privilegia sono "fantasia, "gnocchi", "le italiane", le "veline", il "piacere", le "tangenti", e l'immancabile "campanilismo", anche se i campanili sembrano suonare di meno in un paese sempre più attento a sentire il suono di altre "campane". Questa ultima considerazione è mia a conclusione della lettura del libro. Speriamo che siano "campane" con "suoni" nuovi ...

Ma, poi, mi chiedo: "Sarà sempre la stessa Italia alla corte del suo nuovo re, Renzi?".

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

We planned on visiting Italy this Spring ... Omicron may have different plans but we'll see. I picked up several books to read up on Italy ... of the books I selected this one is clearly the best. It is insightful and well written. There are frequent surprises (no Starbucks in the whole country (until 2018), no word for hangover (moderate drinkers), the unhappiest country in EU-15 (by some measures).

I have read extensively about Italy in studying Rome and the middle ages in Europe. However, I didn't know much about current conditions in the country. I do believe that frequently an outsider provides better analysis of a culture and country than a native, probably due to greater objectivity. Hooper is a british journalist currently working for the Economist. He is a long time resident in Italy and a keen observer. He writes with real affection and yet is also unsparingly objective. I believe many of his conclusions are personal conjecture so I take those with a grain of salt. I recommend this book for anyone who wants a better understanding of 20th century Italian culture.

[Hanna Wróblewska · Rating 5 out of 5]

Specjalna recenzja dla @Marceli.Szpak.
(Lola i Ilko, też możecie czytać, nie ma tu spojlerów, właściwie to tej książki nie da się zaspojlerowac xd)
Autor opisuje ten kraj i naród odnosząc się do różnic i problemów ze zjednoczeniem. Dużo jest tu o polityce, systemie sądowniczym,
kościele katolickim i kulcie rodziny i to jak te rzeczy się przenikają i na siebie oddziaływują. Trochę jest o tym czy rzeczywiście Włosi często mają kochanków, jak to jest z tym kultem mamy, czy mafia naprawdę rządzi krajem i o problemie z biurokracją i łapówkami. Autor przytacza sporo badań (z reguły z 2012/2013 roku, więc od tamtej pory coś mogło się zmienić).
Dla mnie naprawdę dużo rzeczy było nowych, bo miałam zerowe pojęcie jak to życie wygląda od środka, a będąc na wakacjach nie da się tego w takim stopniu odczuć. Trochę mam wrażenie Marta, że chyba nie wyczytałabyś z tej książki nowych rzeczy dla siebie, pewnie bardziej znasz ten system i życie tam od środka, ale kto wie, może czegoś nowego też byś się dowiedziała 😄

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to really like this book. I had traveled to Italy last summer, and really wished I’d read it before the trip. But I thought when I saw at the library, that it was never too late to learn.

The beginning origins of Italy was dry. I skipped the early chapters about the geography as it was hard to follow for a non Italian. The middle kept my attention - lots of interesting history which I’d didn’t know about. Later, bits and bobs of social psychology regarding how and why Italians behaved. Explanations of modern Italian legal system and their effects on stifling their economy. Sections devoted to soccer and the mafia, of course. The end just dragged, from one anecdote and footnote to another. But I wanted to get to the end and I did. Yay. Was it a cohesive book? No. Was it interesting and a page turner? Yes parts, but not entirely.

[Piotr Szewczyk]

Kiepski start, bardzo powolny i wrecz nuzacy, ale gdy sie przebrnie przez tematy dotyczace geografii i historii ksiazka nabiera lepszego tempa. Niemniej poczatek pozwala zrozumiec, jak pokrecony jest to narod, co widac w dalszej czesci ksiazki.
Autor porusza mnostwo watkow, nie analizuje ich gleboko, ale nie mialem poczucia niedosytu. Kazda informacja troche zadziwia, zaskakuje, zdumiewa i szokuje i rozbudza wieksze zainteresowanie Wlochami.
Polecam kazdemu, kto w lekki sposob chcialby sie dowiedziec czegos wiecej o tym kraju i jego mieszkancach.
Audiobook zrealizowany przez studio Takto, wydane przez Empik.
Leszek Filipowicz jest trafnym wyborem na lektora.

[Ver · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learnt a lot about Italy and Italians from this book. I must admit I had a different vision of this country although I haven't seen much of Italy. Maybe the biggest surprise was that they don't often get drunk when they go out. But when I think of it, I can't really say I saw drunk Italians somewhere on holiday, comparing with other nations. The author writes about Italy nowadays and presents the past too, so it is a very comprehensive book.

[Karolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Porywająca, i często zabawna, opowieść przez i z Włochami poparta przeprowadzonymi badaniami. Dowiedziałam się rzeczy, o których nie miałam wcześniej pojęcia, łącznie z językowymi ciekawostkami (których nie przekazuje się na zajęciach z języka, przynajmniej na początku 😉). Idealna pozycja dla zainteresowanych zarówno krajem, jak i społeczeństwem, oraz tym dlaczego jest jest jak jest :)

[Filip · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book describing Italy, Italians and their customs from a lot of different angles and perspectives. Some topics are very interesting, some less so. Sadly the part about mafia isn't that compelling. I appreciated the explanations how many of the quirks and habits of Italian people were influenced by the centuries of their turbulent history.

[ThatPhonyProphet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Deludente e miserabile. It is strange that someone who lived in Italy for so long understands do little of the country and its people. Hooper's endless tirades about Italy's failures, generously sprinkled with threadbare statistics, make this book yawn-inducing.
Avoid at all costs.