Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78116 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Customer Reviews

Wonderful history/biography.
Anywhere else in Europe,Berlusconi would be in jail-but this is Italy we're talking about.Stille has written a very perceptive and highly critical biography of Silvio Berlusconi.It is all the better as it isn't a harangue,he largely lets the facts(or,in some cases,the lack of facts)of Berlusconi's career and life speak for themselves.
This month,Berlusconi's coalition returned to power.This book makes it clear that Berlusconi has no capacity for self-critcism,or abilty to listen to advice or learn from the past,so expect more of what Stille documents here-Berlusconi's solution for most of Italy's problems is more and more Berlusconi.
Stille also points out that the media politician is not just an Italian phenomenon,it's spread elsewhere,eg Bloomberg in New York.He also makes it clear that the Italian left has a lot to answer for,as it's been incapable of formulating an alternative programme,or even of defending basic democratic values,such as a pluralistic media.
Silvio may now be in power till 2012-God help Italy and the Italians.

Wonderful
A must read. The fact that this book hasn't got an English publisher can only be because Berlusconi lost power earlier this year and is thus assumed to be interesting no longer. This isn't the case. The book is absolutely fascinating, managing to be humorous and serious at the same time. Alexander Stille makes a devastating case against Berlusconi, yet he's still there as leader of the opposition, with the very real possibility of becoming prime minister again sometime in the future.

Excellent!
A truly excellent book that I can't recommend enough. Alexander Stille presents the Berlusconi story in its complex entirety - no mean feat. The fact that his book is so readable adds to the strength of both his research and his writing. Alexander Stille is a credit to his father, Ugo Stille and I can't wait for the Italian translation to be available so that I can give one or two copies to friends in Italy. Bravo!