Sicily: An Illustrated History

by Joseph F. Privitera

Book Overview

Sicily was the jewel of the Mediterranean, and Sicilians were the first civilized people of the Western World-here is their rich and diverse history in crisp prose and lively illustration. This... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0781809096
• ISBN13: 9780781809092
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Hippocrene Books
• Length: 172 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Brief, concise and well written.

For those seeking a brief history of Sicily, this is a great choice. Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, Saracens, Normans, French and Spanish all came and left their mark, both good and bad. Author provides a quick read and may spur reader to other books on Sicily (home of all my grandparents).

A tremendous undertaking in a little book!

Privitera's concise and compact history of Sicily is an amazing undertaking and excellent overview of the complex history of this important island. He supplements the text with illustrations that accentuate or expand upon the text, and he discusses the influences of various groups (spanning over two milennia) on the agricultural, industrial, and cultural aspects of Sicily. Overall, this is an excellent and straight-forward work on a fascinating place!

A distinguished land and its impressive people

Black-and-white photographs and artworks add a visual touch to Joseph F. Privitera's Sicily: An Illustrated History. This very direct and straightforward accounting of a world-famous portion of Italy ranges from the era of the Greeks down to the modern day. Historical figures, the role of the Church, war, colonial powers and much more all figure prominently in this compelling, highly recommended capsule-digest version of the impressively legacy and promising future of a distinguished land and its impressive people.

Great Intro

I'm surprised this book is not getting more attention. It is a great introduction to the confusing history of Sicily. Sicily has been occupied and conquered so many times it is hard to keep track. Privitera does a great job of sorting through all of this and explaining the history of Sicily with ease. His motivation for writing this book was researching the history of his name and in so doing discovered so much about the history of this island. The title says it is an "illustrated history." However, the illustrations are not very good. This should not discourage you from purchasing this book because the text is what counts. I enjoyed this read and it did not take long to finish the book. Recommended for the Italian history buff.