Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia First Edition, Kindle Edition

John Dickie's Cosa Nostra tracks the Mafia underworld back to Italian unification efforts in the 19th Century. It explores the growing influence of the Sicilian criminal element and its flight overseas in the 1920s to escape Fascism.Dickie notes the reestablishment of Mafia authority in Sicily following the Second World War and describes intergang friction on that island from the 1960s to the present day.Dickie's work is the latest to illustrate England's fascination with the Sicilian Mafia. Though the book's jacket claims it is the "first English language history of the Cosa Nostra," readers of James Fentress's "Rebels and Mafiosi" (which certainly seemed to be in English when I read it a few years ago) will experience some deja vu.The book appears to have been very well researched. The subject matter might be a bit too heavy for the casual reader, and Dickie does not help matters with his academic writing style. If you are fond of short sentences and are fearful of semicolons, this one's probably not for you.The book contains a helpful bibliography, a good index, sixteen pages of photographs and a few maps.

A well-written and researched book about the Sicilian Mafia. A must-read to know the facts about this secret society.

John Dickie's book on the history of the Sicilian Mafia is a landmark in investigative and historical journalism. The uncovering of the inner workings of an organization that, for obvious reasons, kept few or no written records is in itself a Herculean effort. There is nothing like it in the annals of journalism. It is far and away the most comprehensive portrait of organized crime ever written, but in addition to Mr. Dickie's brilliant and exhaustive research, his insights and writing style elevate the work to highest levels of journalism. The book opens with an extraordinary dissection of the assassination of the crusading Sicilian Magistrate, Giovanni Falcone, whose murder galvanized the Italian people, and the Pope himself, to finally stand up against the Mafia's two centuries of outrages. Then Mr. Dickie explains how Massenet's extraordinary opera, Cavalleria Rusticana -- used in both Raging Bull and The Godfather III -- helped created the myth of Sicilian Mafiosi as "Men of Honor", an aberrant term if ever there was one. A flawless, unflinching masterpiece of investigation and composition. Bravo, Mr. Dickie. James Dalessandro, author of "1906"

The book is excellent. Historically accurate, as far as I know, with, at times, subtle sarcastic remarks thatease the tension that naturally comes from such topic.Again the Kindle Edition sadly departs from the printededition:- pictures/photographs are missing- page numbers do not exist hence references from other sources are difficult to locate within.I think Amazon should review better Kindle products rather than relying on the Editor to do so.After all Kindle is Amazon creation. If legally cannot be controlled, for whatever reason, create, at least, anAmazon Kindle Quality Index, or a Kindle Deviation Index (deviation from printed edition of course).As it stands now, one is better off buying the printed version and use a PDF or, even better, PDF/OCR scanned copy for tablet reading.

If you wish to know something in a sober way about what Michael 'the Pope' Greco and Joe "Bananas" Bonnano were up to, how the mafia and the Christian Democrats in Italy greased each others wheels for decades, who almost destroyed the mafia (the fascists) and of course which type of Alfa Romero was the mafiosi car bomb of choice in the 1960s - almost always an Alfa Romero Giulietta - then this is the book for you. One distraction: while much of the book is clearly based on the oral testimony of Tommaso Buscetta, a pentiti or mafia defector near the end of his days, the author repeatedly reminds us that his testimony is not entirely reliable, an annoying and patronising ) sleight of hand.

Thoroughly engaging. With the latest maxi-trial 2021, I hope the author releases an update. There's more history here than can be conveyed, but it's a great start.

Dickie has put in a great deal of research and the book is a useful introduction to the Sicilian Mafia. Unfortunately, he is a poor writer. He goes on and on without any sense of proportion about important and unimportant, loads the text with his own value judgments, and is over the top in crediting himself with an originality that simply is not there. He has many irritating tics, such as translating (sometimes misleadingly) Italian nicknames. He is also rather too prone to dismiss the US government's complicity in reestablishing the Mafia after WW II. With all these faults of style and judgment, the book is still worth reading for anyone who takes an interest in the subject. Perhaps if the author ever matures as a writer, he will tackle these theme again in a more effective and coherent manner.

Amazing detail and knowledge of Sicilian mentality for a non-Italian let alone non-Sicilian. Especially liked the back-stories on the characters and events. As a Sicilian-American, I recognise some of the customs and character traits he so beautifully describes. Must read for me.

This book offers up a fascinating history of the Cosa Nostra and its roots in Sicily.This starts right back from the first mention of the Mafia in historical documents and moves through the ages as it grew, faced backlash, persecution from Mussolini, it's inter-wars, the high profile court cases against it and it's more recent restructuring to redefine it's role and survival.This is quite scholarly in places, but rarely feels too heavy. It is well researched and whilst it touches upon some of the violence, it is never gratuitous or sensationalist.This was an interesting read and I have already purchased the authors next book on the Mafia of northern Italy and hopefully it will be as informative and enlightening to read. Worth a try.

Well written and not over sensationalised. I don't know if there is an updated version of this but it would be the better choice to have the author's view on how some pending cases turned out. This is important because as you will quickly find out, one of the main tactics of the mafia is to influence judges, police and politicians so as not to face the consequences of their action. The book cites many examples of long court procedures where decisions get overturned.Having said that, the origins of the mafia is well covered and they are not from the prohibition era as many would suspect.

An excellent book, well researched and well written which plots the history of the Sicilian Mafia from its inception to about the early noughties. Sometimes I felt it was over-stuffed with facts, but this is not really a criticism more an observation. I have read a lot of noir type crime novels and this reads almost like one except that you have to keep telling yourself that it is real, and not a figment of an author's imagination. Both absorbing and disturbing in equal measure, highly recommended.

An extremely well researched true tale of the Cosa Nostra, from the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st. There's a lot of information here, but thanks to John Dickie's writing it never feels like a chore to read. Not only will you learn about the mafia criminals, you'll also learn about those who, whether through fear, apathy, sympathy or complicity, allowed the mafia to flourish - and, last but not least, the brave men who strove to bring them to justice. Thoroughly recommended.

This is a great history of the Sicilian Mafia. It is extensive and covers everything from 1850 onwards. It is a story that covers the ability for the organisation to adapt but also in a failure of successive Italian governments to acknowledge its existence and to fight it.