The Honored Society - by Petra Reski (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published in English: London: Atlantic Books, 2012.

Book Synopsis

In the early hours of an August 2007 morning a gunfight broke out in an Italian restaurant in Duisburg, Germany; in less than five minutes over seventy shots were fired into the bodies of six men. Both the victims and the assassins were members of the 'Ndrangheta crime organization. Calabria's Mafia had brazenly shown its savage influence outside Italy for the first time.

In The Honored Society award-winning investigative reporter Petra Reski reveals the Mafia menace lurking throughout the world-- from espresso bars in Palermo to European halls of parliament to the corporate headquarters of enormous agricultural firms. In haunting and exquisite prose she explores the Byzantine structure of the 'Ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra and other mafia clans throughout Italy -- the code they live by, the destruction they wreak, how they operate within the country and how they operate internationally. She shows how these syndicates dominate everything from nuclear waste disposal to hotel chains to the marijuana trade in Australia and cocaine trafficked throughout the world. Reski shows how figures such as Silvio Berlusconi were made by the Mafia, and how those who dared to defy its codes were broken. A searing portrait of the criminals who have come to control not only Italy but vast swathes of the globe, The Honored Society is a journalistic tour de force.

Review Quotes

Donna Leon
"Everything I know about the Mafia, I owe to Petra Reski."
"Kirkus Reviews"
"Journalist Reski personalizes her longtime coverage of the Italian Mafia in this short recent history of the organization.... [E]ngrossing."
"Irish Times" (praise for the UK edition)
"Reski's book, written in an informal, first-person style rather than in academic mode, ... takes readers on a journey through just about all the horror stories that Mafia crime has generated in Italy in the last 30 years."
"Financial Times "(praise for the UK edition)
"[A] depressing tale of the mafia grip on society.... Reski's reportage colourfully brings to life the sights, smells and sounds of Sicily, highlighting the robustly supportive role given to mafia murderers by their womenfolk.... [C]ompelling."
"Publishers Weekly""[I]ntriguing.... Reski continually stresses the Mafia organizations' insidious nature in Italy and abroad as she visits town after town where the mob controls everything from politics to the church.... [H]er expertise is never in doubt."
Julia Jenkins, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia, for "Shelf Awareness for Readers""[Reski's] sketches of these 'bad guys' and their adversaries are intimate and contemplative, rooted in years of experience. Even while excoriating the actions and influence of the Mafia, she seems to feel respect, even affection, toward certain individuals, revealing a conflicted relationship much like the one she describes between the Italian public and its famous criminal organization.... [A] quiet poetry lurks in certain turns of phrase and carefully crafted images. "The Honored Society" is an unusually structured view into the strange and powerful world of the Italian Mafia."
"
Philadelphia Inquirer"
"As a journalist, Reski knows her topic as well as or better than anyone in the business. As a writer, she brings both insight and a sad poetry to her story.""
New York Times""[Readers] will not soo

About the Author

An award-winning investigative journalist, Petra Reski writes regularly for publications like GEO, DIE ZEIT, Merian and Brigitte, as well as for radio. She is the author of several books on the Mafia. Born in Kamen, Germany, she has lived in Italy since 1989.