The Invention of Sicily

The Invention of Sicily:A Mediterranean History

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A rich and fascinating cultural history of the Mediterranean’s enigmatic heart

Sicily is the gateway between Europe, Africa and the East, standing at the crossroads of the Mediterranean. In this riveting, rich history Jamie Mackay peels away the layers of this most mysterious of islands. This story finds its origins in ancient myth, before guiding us through two thousand years of reinvention, in both conquest and resistance. Mackay take the reader from its ancient amphitheatres, to Arab gardens and Baroque Cathedrals, as well as the island’s great literature, like Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s masterpiece The Leopard. In its modern era, Sicily has been the site of revolution, Cosa Nostra and, in the twenty-first century, the epicentre of the refugee crisis. The Invention of Sicily is a dazzling introduction to the island, its history and its people.

Reviews

  • A fascinating and imaginative work that should prompt us to reconsider some of the nationalist binaries that continue to structure our world.

    Daniel Trilling, author of Lights in the Distance
  • In this marvelous book, Jamie Mackay brilliantly reinvents Sicily for us as a palimpseste of meanings echoing through its tumultuous history - as a metaphor for the entire world, as the limits of the Western world, as a place of encounter between worlds. His beloved Sicilians engage in a conversation across epochs, as if their unending resistance against attacks on their freedoms or against un-examined imports, from religious dogma, to capitalist logics, to nationalist monocultural narratives or the idea of the modern state, had prepared the ground for their most inspiring exceptionalist stance to date – a stubborn refusal to imitate the rest of Europe and turn those seeking refuge on their shores into ‘others’. I can think of no better demonstration than the story found in these pages that the soul of Europe lies in its outer periphery.

    Kalypso Nicolaidis, author Exodus, Reckoning, Sacrifice
  • A startling new voice analyzing the history of Sicily from its ancient origins to the present day with forthright clarity and profound sympathy. No excuses for the support of Mussolini or toleration of Cosa Nostra, but convincing explanations, enlivened by Sicilian novels, films, paintings and buildings. A fresh, exciting and eminently readable book.

    Judith Herrin, author Ravenna