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A crossroads of the Mediterranean, Sicily links Europe, Africa and the East. In this riveting, rich history Jamie Mackay peels away the layers of this most mysterious of islands. It is a story with origins in ancient myth that embraces two thousand years of reinvention through both conquest and resistance. Mackay leads the reader from ancient amphitheatres through Arab gardens to baroque cathedrals. He delves into the island’s great literature, such as Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s masterpiece, <i>The Leopard</i>. In its modern era, Sicily has been the site of revolution, the Cosa Nostra and, in the twenty- first century, a focal point in the refugee crisis. <i>The Invention of Sicily</i> is a dazzling introduction to the island, its history and its people.
A crossroads of the Mediterranean, Sicily links Europe, Africa and the East. In this riveting, rich history Jamie Mackay peels away the layers of this most mysterious of islands. It is a story with origins in ancient myth that embraces two thousand years of reinvention through both conquest and resistance. Mackay leads the reader from ancient amphitheatres through Arab gardens to baroque cathedrals. He delves into the island’s great literature, such as Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s masterpiece, <i>The Leopard</i>. In its modern era, Sicily has been the site of revolution, the Cosa Nostra and, in the twenty- first century, a focal point in the refugee crisis. <i>The Invention of Sicily</i> is a dazzling introduction to the island, its history and its people.