Rebels and Mafiosi

By James J. Fentress

For centuries, Sicilian "men of honor" have fought the controls of government. Between 1820 and 1860, rebellions shook the island as these men joined with Sicily's intellectuals in the struggle for independence from the Bourbon Kingdom of Naples. This lively account--the first to locate the emergence and evolution of the mafia in historical perspective--describes how those rebellions led to the birth of the modern mafia and traces the increasing influence of organized crime on the island. The alliance between two classes of Sicilians, James Fentress shows, made possible both the revolution and the mafia. Militancy in the ranks of the revolution taught men of honor how to organize politically. Communities then resisted the demands of central government by devising alternative controls through a network of local groups--the mafia cosche.Fentress tells his operatic story of honor and crime from the viewpoint of the Sicilians, and in particular of the great city of Palermo--from Garibaldi's historic arrival in 1860 to the spectacular mafia trials around the turn of the century. Drawing on police archives, trial records, contemporary journalism, and government reports, he describes how enduring political power plus a (richly deserved) reputation for violence helped the mafia secure covert relationships with groups that publicly denounced them. These contacts still protect today's mafiosi from Rome's efforts to eradicate the organization. The history of the mafia is indeed, Fentress shows, the history of Sicily.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801435390
• ISBN13: 9780801435393
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Great book

I had to read this for for class, and it was by far the best historical account I've read. It keeps you interested in the big picture the entire time, while not leaving out the details. I know everything about the origins of the mafia now that I could need to know. I'd reccomend this to anyone studying Italian history, the mafia, or rebelions in general.

mafia and revolution

I enjoyed this book very much. I originally picked it up because I am interested in the mafia and wanted to find out more about its origins. The book is very useful for this, and describes how the mafia started in Sicily's struggle for freedom. It is very well-written, I read it in a couple of days, and has a lot of interesting stories. I especially liked the description of Garibaldi in Sicily and the stories about how some of the Sicilians who fought on Garibaldi's side later became capimafia. Thew author is also interested in the relation of violence and crime to revolution. I wasn't looking for this when I started the book, but I think it is an interesting subject. If you look at a lot of recent revolutions, it's clear that the question of what is revolution and what is crime comes down to the question of which side you're on. If you like it, it's revolution; if you don't like it, it's crime.