PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewOne of the great values of this brief but highly readable earlier diary is that it was written when the direction of history—whether there would be a war and how it would turn out—was far less clear. As a result, it more accurately represents the moral and political complexity of Italian life under Fascism. The people Origo encounters represent a much broader range of views: from convinced anti-Fascists to unquestioning Fascists who repeat phrases like \'A good Italian’s duty now is to have no opinions.\' Most occupy a swampy middle ground ... A journal kept in the middle of tumultuous events makes us realize how wrong most people, including many intelligent and well-informed people, can be about the import of events that, with the benefit of hindsight, now seems obvious ... Much of Origo’s mental energy is spent trying to make sense of what’s happening, by hunting down foreign newspapers, piecing together accounts of events from different sources, trying to read between the lines of official statements ... In one very powerful passage, the day before Mussolini’s official declaration of war, Origo poses a question that seems deeply important in this time of resurgent nationalism: \'Is it possible to move a country to war, against its historical traditions, against the natural instincts and character of the majority of its inhabitants, and very possibly against its own interests? Apparently it is possible.\'
Alex Perry
MixedThe New York Review of BooksPerry’s narrow focus in his book...leads him to emphasize the personal and cultural dimensions of the ’Ndrangheta, and as a result he gives insufficient attention to the economic and political power of organized crime in southern Italy ... Perry mentions that the ’Ndrangheta has politicians in its pockets, but we don’t grasp the importance of this because they were not part of the Garofalo, Pesce, and Cacciola cases ... According to Perry the ’Ndrangheta’s power remains essentially intact, but he doesn’t give a full picture of its size and complexity. The ’Ndranghetisti we meet in The Good Mothers are simply crude, violent thugs. Yet the ’Ndrangheta has mutated into a highly sophisticated organization with well-educated gangsters who are comfortable in the world of international commerce and launder money through corporations, real estate, and offshore banking centers ... The cases that Perry writes about enabled prosecutors to put 127 ’Ndranghetisti on trial, proved that the group was operating in about 120 locations around the world, and broke the culture of silence surrounding it ... Unfortunately, the problem goes deeper than culture: it involves changing the economic structure of southern Italy, reducing its extreme dependence on public money, and creating a healthy private economy there. That would involve a painful, complex period of transition that no political party in Italy has the stomach to undertake.
