On March 16, 1978 Aldo Moro, a former Prime Minister of Italy, was ambushed in Rome. Within three minutes the gang killed his escort and bundled Moro into one of three getaway cars. An hour later the terrorist group the Red Brigades announced that Moro was in their hands; on March 18 they said he would be tried in a "people's court of justice." Seven weeks later Moro's body was discovered in the trunk of a car parked in the crowded center of Rome. The Moro Affair presents a chilling picture of how a secretive government and a ruthless terrorist faction help to keep each other in business. Also included in this book is "The Mystery of Majorana," Sciascia's fascinating investigation of the disappearance of a major Italian physicist during Mussolini's regime.

On the night of March 26, 1938, nuclear physicist Ettore Majorana boarded a ship, cash and passport in hand. He was never seen again. In A Brilliant Darkness, theoretical physicist Joao Magueijo tells the story of Majorana and his research group, "the Via Panisperna Boys," who discovered atomic fission in 1934. As Majorana, the most brilliant of the group, began to realize the implications of what they had found, he became increasingly unstable. Did he commit suicide that night in Palermo? Was he kidnapped? Did he stage his own death? A Brilliant Darkness chronicles Majorana's invaluable contributions to science -- including his major discovery, the Majorana neutrino -- while revealing the truth behind his fascinating and tragic life.

The Grand Hôtel et des Palmes is an icon of Palermo life. Its rooms and public spaces have witnessed the events that have shaped twentieth century Sicily: everything from the suicide of a poet to political intrigues and a clandestine mafia meeting. This hotel has a long and venerable history. It started out as a private residence for the Ingham-Whitakers, the Anglo-Sicilian family of marsala wine fame, before being sold to the hotelier Enrico Ragusa in 1874. Wagner was one of the most eminent early guests, looking for inspiration to finish his last opera, Parsifal. A few days after its completion, a nervous Renoir arrived to paint his portrait. Months later came Guy de Maupassant, who asked to see Wagner's former suite so that he might detect 'a little of his personality'. The novelist and poet, Raymond Roussel, arrived in the 1930s, but was destined to leave in a coffin. Arthur Miller, Sophia Loren and Maria Callas were all guests and when Visconti was filming The Leopard in Sicily, the entire cast – notably Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon – visited the hotel. Lancaster even dined with a Baron who had made the hotel his home for reasons shrouded in mystery. Less illustrious guests have included the occultist Aleister Crowley, Lucky Luciano and other mafiosi. Even Giulio Andreotti, the former Italian Prime Minister, who stood trial for complicity in the murder of a journalist and mafia association in the '90s opted for the hotel's Belle Époque opulence. Ghosts of the Belle Époque showcases a richly researched history of this historic hotel, with a cast of characters ranging from the good to the bad and the decidedly ugly.

The ‘Southern Question' has been a major topic in Italian political, economic and cultural life for a century and more. During the Cold War, it was the justification for heavy government intervention. In contemporary Italy, a major part of the appeal of the Lombard League has been its promise to dissociate the South from the North, even to the point of secession. The South also remains a resonant theme in Italian literature. This interdisciplinary book endeavours to answer the following: - When did people begin to think of the South as a problem? - Who - intellectuals, statisticians, criminologists, political exiles, novelists (among them some important southerners) - contributed to the discourse about the South and why? - Did their view of the South correspond to any sort of reality? - What was glossed over or ignored in the generalized vision of the South as problematic? - What consequences has the ‘Question' had in controlling the imaginations and actions of intellectuals and those with political and other forms of power? - What alternative formulations might people create and live by if they were able to escape from the control of the ‘Question' and to imagine the political, economic and cultural differences within Italy in some other way? This timely book reveals how Southern Italians have been affected by distorted versions of a complex reality similar to the discourse of ‘Orientalism'. In situating the devaluation of Southern Italian culture in relation to the recent emergence of ‘anti-mafia' ideology in the South and the threat posed to national unity by the Lombard League, it also illuminates the world's stiff inter-regional competition for investment capital.

This thoroughly updated edition with expanded coverage explores the impact of terrorism on economics, public health, religion and pop culture, and also includes details of ethical issues and debates relating to terrorism.

"In Counterterrorism Strategies, seven experts examine how the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Egypt, and Sri Lanka have combated terrorist groups from the 1970s to the present and draw lessons that are applicable to today's threats." "Counterterrorism Strategies shows that there are no simple or complete solutions to the dangers posed by determined and elusive terrorists, but several of the countries detailed here have had significant successes. The contributors' analyses of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of strategies used by these six countries offer a counterterrorism road map for the twenty-first century. This book is essential reading for policymakers, for counterterrorism scholars and professionals, and for members of the general public who are concerned about the general direction of the international campaign against terrorism."--Jacket