A gripping narrative of the roots, rise, and fall of a notorious criminal organization.
Cassar presents an in-depth exploration of the Mafia’s rise to power and the fight to weaken its grip on Sicilian society in this nonfiction work.
Stories and stereotypes about the Sicilian Mafia are indisputably popular, but most are based more on legend than reality. The author exposes the organization’s vicious nature in this ambitious, copiously referenced, and highly readable examination of its historical roots in Sicilian society, the tactics that held every aspect of life on the island in an iron grip for more than a century, and the bravery of those who dared to stand up against violence and corruption. Cassar details how one foreign power after another exploited Sicily’s rich natural resources and oppressed its people from the ancient era through the 1900s, explaining how the Mafia distorted ingrained cultural attitudes and repurposed religious symbolism to frame corruption of the rich and exploitation of the poor as matters of loyalty, tradition, and honor. The author movingly describes the incredible courage of those who risked their lives to fight organized crime—including judges, prosecutors, parish priests, and ordinary villagers. “The residents of the mafia capital were expressing their rage through handmade signs painted on bedsheets,” Cassar writes. “Every person who was hanging the sheet outside their home was making a clear declaration of intent, telling both the authorities and the Mafia—you know who we are and you know where we live, but we are no longer willing to be silent.” The author’s clear prose is easy to follow, the insights into Sicilian culture and the inner workings of the Mafia are fascinating, and the stories of individuals and organizations who put everything on the line to fight back are truly inspiring. The end of each section includes a helpful timeline of the events it covers as well as occasional footnotes, a five-page bibliography, and more than 200 endnotes and references.
A gripping narrative of the roots, rise, and fall of a notorious criminal organization.Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2022
ISBN: 9789918615001
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Alert Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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