Product Description

Silvio Berlusconi's personal conduct lends itself easily to lampooning, but his reliance on force of personality and media savvy alongside a laissez-faire political stance adds up to a corrosive combination with far-reaching consequences for the future of Italian democratic politics. This edition presents his biography.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #234831 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Review
"A compelling hatchet job ... admirable precision and succinctness." -- Sunday Times "Carefully researched ... a notable contribution." - Financial Times "Damning ... Ginsborg shows how Berlusconi's combination of anti-political populism and media power makes him a real threat to democracy." - Independent "[Ginsborg's] sober, thoughtful book will be of value not only to anyone interested in Italy but to anyone interested in how populist politics, money, and control of the mass media's reservoir of fantasy can combine to override the democratic process." -- The Nation "A succinct and lucid account ." -- New York Times "Penetrating and disquieting ... A masterly study by the leading British historian of contemporary Italy." - Times Literary Supplement

About the Author
Author of the highly acclaimed books A History of Contemporary Italy and Italy and Its Discontents, Paul Ginsborg teaches history at Florence University. In recent years he has been at the forefront of Italian civil society's mobilisation in defence of democracy.

Customer Reviews

Condensed history through the rise of one man
Elegantly written and studiously constructed this is a hatchet job of the first order. Burlesquoni is the Economist's name for the italian premier and Ginsborg does an excellent job in showing how the Italian polity has descended into a farcical pastiche of democracy. Worth ten conventional academic text-books there is a whole history of post-war Italy's descent laid bare in a slim 200 pages. Excellent