Personal account of the mafia and the Italian south, where Robb lived in Naples for fourteen years. Describes the unholy and often secret alliance between the mafia (in all its forms) and the Christian Democrats, linked to the US and the Vatican, which explained so much of Italy's history in the fifty years after World War II. Not just a work of history, it contains art and food, literature, film and biography. Published in over a dozen langauges and the winner of prizes, it has been hailed by critics as one of the best books on Italy.