This is the story of the Cosa Nostra: from its origins in Sicily in 1863, to Italian immigration to America, prohibition and the formation of the first mafia families, and to fascism and post-war Italy. The image of the mafioso as a "man of honour" - good to the weak, above the laws of the state but[...]

Six Italians writing from the margins: these stories are linked by common themes of belonging, dislocation and identity, and together they take the pulse of a country in turmoil.[...]