"Brave and original... [A] compelling inquiry into intellectual and political history."
Joseph Luzzi, Times Literary Supplement "This short book is Viroli's diagnosis of what is wrong with Italy and with Italians."
Richard Bosworth, Times Higher Education "A book that compares the prime minister unfavorably to Machiavelli's Prince."
Stephan Faris, Time Magazine "Viroli's is a gripping and at times funny, if overall depressing, expose ... Read moreof how the prime minister and media mogul has hollowed out the country's democracy. Surrounding Berlusconi in parliament and everywhere else, he writes, is a modern-day court populated by thick ranks of flatterers, and, of course, beautiful, busty women who resemble the courtesans of a bygone era."
Erica Alini, Macleans "[Viroli] holds up Berlusconi's success as a mirror, asking what it tells us about modern democratic societies everywhere. Viroli believes it calls into question the fashionable libertarian conviction that freedom alone is enough to optimize politics, the belief that the state should defend only 'negative liberties,' leaving us alone to enjoy our property, opinions, and rights."
Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs "Viroli's thoughts and ideas about what went so wrong in Italy need to be understood and heeded if the country is to succeed in its present struggle and fulfil its potential."
Kate Saffin, LSE Politics and Policy blog "Viroli's contribution has the merit of retrieving an important part of the debate over contemporary Italy, namely the role of public morality. At its high points, the book is largely successful in avoiding both the Scylla of simply accusing Italians of a nearly ontological lack of moral standards, and the Charybdis of a blanket absolution in the face of the necessities of living in a profoundly clientelistic and economically increasingly polarized country."
Andrea Teti, Journal of Modern Italian Studies Show Less