The Crisis of the Italian State: From the Origins of the Cold War to the Fall of Berlusconi

McCarthy (European studies, Johns Hopkins U.) was in the process of analyzing the Italian government of Paolo Berlusconi when it fell in December 1994. (One can be startled without being surprised.) In the first full account in English of Berlusconi's rise and fall, he examines the role of clientalism, the machinations of the Mafia, the corporate direction of Fiat, the edicts of the Vatican, and the organization of the Italian soccer league. If Italian politics is this complicated even to explain, no wonder noone can actually do it very well. Includes a historical perspective and profiles of the people mentioned. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.