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The New Italians
The New Italians
Oct 10, 2024 6:33 PM

Author:Charles Richards

The New Italians

Italy has seduced generations with its sunshine, landscapes, art treasures and the warmth and vitality of its people, devoted to style, sensuality and the pleasures of life.

The reality is less rosy. Italy is as exasperating as it is enchanting. Appalling public services, a rotten political class, the creeping tentacles of the Mafia, the all-forgiving Mother Church and infinitely indulgent ‘mamma’ have long prevented Italians facing up to their collective failings.

In ‘The New Italians’, journalist Charles Richards paints a compelling group portrait of the country and people, spanning football to Freemansonry, kickbacks to kidnappings. He concludes that however much things change, the Italians will remain essentially the same, and pull through with their customary ‘brio’.

Reviews

In his crowded career and his eventful life, Ngugi has enacted, for all to see, the paradigmatic trials and quandaries of a contemporary African writer caught in sometimes implacable political, social, racial, and linguistic currents

—— John Updike , The New Yorker

Delicate, fresh and scrupulously honest...calm and mature

—— Spectator

Moving, honest and informative, this is a book about the influence of stories, storytelling and storytellers. It is a reminder that every generation, however beleaguered, can dream to change the world

—— Independent

The work he offers us here is like nothing that's gone before: it is the chronicle of a child's single-minded pursuit of an education.... The picture of Kenya that he presents is admirably free of cant or sentimentality, and yet it is enough to make you weep

—— Washington Post

Ngugi has returned to his roots to produce something delicate, fresh and scrupulously honest

—— Michela Wrong , The Spectator

The surprise about Dreams in a Time of War is that, for all the provocation of history, and for all its clear-eyed evocation of an agonised time, it is not an angry book ... Ngugi's storyteller's instinct for character and place, for recurring motifs and telling symbols, triumphs over the bleakness of background...this memoir is a tale of triumph

—— Mary Crockett , The Scotsman

Essential reading for the author's many admirers

—— Michael Holman , Literary Review

Ngugi's storytelling skills never falter as he brings this far-away world vividly to life

—— Metro

Absorbing personal reflections that illuminate not just later careers, but the state of their peoples too.

—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent, Christmas round up

One of Kenya's greatest storytellers

—— James Urquhart , Financial Times

A triumph of a book...charismatic and hugely enjoyable...You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't read this.

—— Nels Abbey, author of Think Like a White Man

A brilliant, prescient exploration of a richly complex continent. An antidote for our times.

—— Irenosen Okojie, author of Nudibranch

Impeccably researched...brimming with humor and intellect. A necessary read.

—— JK Chukwu, author of The Unfortunates

A vital book that offers us new, complex narratives to view African countries and their relationships to Europe and the Global North. Faloyin's stylish, propulsive prose blends history, memoir and opinion, so that reading him has the impression of being at the knee of a great storyteller.

—— Jonathan Nunn, editor of Vittles

Demonstrates how that old saying - "this time is different" - is both so true and so wrong!

—— Lord Stephen Green , former CEO and Chairman of HSBC and UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment, 2011-2013

Crashes are an integral part of the history of capitalism. The last century has seen plenty of them. All crashes begin with debt-fuelled euphoria and end in disappointment. Yet how bad that disappointment turns out to be also depends on where in the economy the crash falls and how determined and credible are the responses. In this lively and blessedly brief book, Linda Yueh does a lovely job of explaining the history and drawing the necessary lessons

—— Martin Wolf , Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times

This excellent overview identifies the ingredients that are specific to each crisis and common to all. She provides a lucid assessment of the efficacy of policy responses, high-lighting credibility as a necessary condition for successful resolution

—— Lord Nick McPherson, , former Permanent Secretary of the UK Treasury, 2005-2016, and Chairman of C. Hoare & Co.

"Why did nobody notice?" Was the question the Queen asked about the 2008 financial crisis. It was a good question. All financial crises and crashes have their own characteristics but they also often involve certain common features:- Irrational exuberance, Speculative frenzy, Greed and over confidence usually supported by high levels of gearing.

Linda Yueh's new book will be a timely reminder to governments and regulators of the warning signs of future crises

—— Lord Norman Lamont , former Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1990-1993

Timely, entertaining and full of useful insights

—— Gideon Rachman , Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, Financial Times

Renowned economist Dr Linda Yueh looks at past financial crashes - from the Wall Street Crash to the dot com boom and bust and the Covid pandemic - to explore what we can learn from them in this entertainingly written book.

—— i, Best New Books in May

Entertaining, well-written . . . [Yueh] has come up with a three-step framework to help spot when financial problems are brewing and identifies where the next may occur.

—— Ben Wright , Telegraph

A gifted writer (een begenadigd schrijver)

—— De Telegraaf
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