non fiction
Sandro Modeo
MOURINHO AND PHILOSOPHY | Mourinho e la filosofia
José Mourinho from Barcelona to Madrid Introduction by Arrigo Sacchi
144 pages | essay
Publication date: September 2010
manuscript available
Arrived in Italy like an alien – a “thing from another world”, to quote the title from a popular film by Howard Hawks – Mourinho was passively idolized or ferociously loathed, but almost never understood. This book focuses on his unique persona by zooms on little known or little studied aspects. Firstly, his affinities with two Hungarians who lived in the last century differently-experienced on “the art of escape”: the “wizard” Harry Houdini (virtuoso of handcuffs and HH before Helenio Herrera) and the “wanderer” Béla Guttmann, the coach who won the Champions’ League with Benfica and Portugal’s idol when José was a child. Secondly, the innovative training methods, which mix the most sophisticated “weapons of persuasion” of social psychology, with the neurosciences attainments with regard to nervous system protection and decision-making training. And finally – veiled by brilliant and histrionic media diversion - the uncommon ability of digging into the people surrounding him, and into himself: for instance – in the case of Inter – into the fear and nostalgia which paralyzed a whole sector and Inter supporters, and into the compulsive need of change and of victory. At the end of this journey it will be clear why Mourinho’ uniqueness is one with his solitude, a needed and inevitable solitude. Sandro Modeo, essayist and journalist, is specialized in science and soccer. He has been writing for Corriere della Sera for twenty years and in the Guardian’ssports pages for some time. He collaborated with La rivista dei Libri (the Italian version of New York Review of Books), Le scienze and the Darwin magazine. Arrigo Sacchi (1946), former Italian football coach and originator of the “total soccer” concept, was elected as the best Italian coach ever by The Times. He was head coach of the Italy national football team (1991 – 1996) which ended runner-up in the world championship in 1994. He is best known for his successes as A.C. Milan manager, leading the team to win the Italian championship in 1998 and UEFA Champions League in 1989 and 1990.
Read an English sample
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Marco Giusti
007 ALL’ITALIANA |Italian 007
160 pages – illustrated essay
Publication date: October 2010
An incredible photo book, featuring numerous archive images and original posters.
Italian James Bonds were actually every bit as cool as Sean Connery!
“I interviewed a number of directors, producers, screenwriters and actors from the 077 and 3S3 series for my TV show Stracult two years ago. I realized that the phenomenon was not at all marginal, unlike I had believed it to be and experienced it back then. [...] So I decided to tell about these people’s stories, their films, their characters, their dreams: all the care and passion that went into this long-neglected and underrated genre. Italo-007 was not as crazy and complex as spaghetti western, which affected several generations back in the 20th century. It did, however, have a revolutionary impact, and definitely a style of its own”.
A forgotten genre, studied by one of Italy’s leading film journalists.
Among the various genres of Italian popular film, “Italian-007” is possibly the least appreciated and investigated by movie enthusiasts. It includes hundreds of films inspired by the famous James Bond saga, which were released in Italy from 1964 to 1967 and then quickly succumbed to spaghetti westerns and grand American productions. Directors the likes of Sergio Sollima, Alberto De Martino, Umberto Lenzi, Sergio Greco created an endless list of secret agents, variously named 077, 008, 009, Z7 and so on: spies in all flavors, engaged in missions anywhere from New York to Paris, from Istanbul to Beirut, from Ibiza to Marbella. All of them were surrounded by beautiful, dangerous and skimpily dressed girls, whom they set out to seduce while trying to save their own lives. And, of course, they all had a few enemies to destroy, with their load of hidden nuclear weapons, superpowerful lasers, secret microfilms and kidnapped scientists.
Using wonderful images and original posters, Marco Giusti outlines the history of this fantastic pop imagery: “movies made in a matter of months, written in a few weeks”, with “minimal costs, small crews, sure bargains”. An important piece of Italian film history, full of madness, creativity and original ideas: a genre worth reviving and appreciating.
Marco Giusti is a TV writer, director and journalist. A film and advertising expert, he was the creator of a number of Italian TV shows, including Blob and Stracult. He currently writes for Il Manifesto and L’Espresso.
Please find an English, photographic proposal
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Ed. by Carlo Antonelli
YEARS ZERO - ATLAS OF A CONDENSED DECADE | Gli anni zero. Atlante di un decennio condensato
320 pages | anthology, essays
Publication date: November 2009
An anthology of short illuminating essays written by important journalists, writers and academics. Social networks, politics and entertainment, the new wars of religion, the spread of mobile Technologies, gay culture, the collapse of global economy, new elderly, new immigrants and new global disasters: all contribute to making these years a condensed and worldchanging decade, the clean slate on which, perhaps, it will be fun to start building again.
Authors and Themes: Simon Reynolds (Music in the Noughties); Judith Butler (Explanation and Exoneration, or What we Can Hear); Mike Davis (Swine Flu and Kathrina Hurricane); Susan Faludi (What 9/11 did to women); Simon Kuper (The Future Map of Global Soccer); Slavoj ŽiŽek (The Power of Illusion); Naomi Klein (Wall Street Bailout); D. T. Max (David F. Wallace’s death); Alberto Piccinini (Michael Jackson’s Death); Federico Rahola (New Immigrants); Matteo Bittanti (Social Networks); Andrea Lissoni (Contemporary Art); Stefano Benzoni (Youngsters Don’t Exist Anymore); Paola Mordiglia (Tsunami report); Arto Lindsay (Brazil); Brian Holmes (China - One World One Dream); Suketu Mehta (India: Mumbai attacks, from New York Times); Sheryl Garratt (Interview with Apple Inc. designer); Bruce Labruce (Gay culture – from BUTT magazine); Eric Bates (A conversation with Obama). Presentation: Carlo Antonelli; Introduction: “The Condensed Decade” by Massimo Coppola; Chronology of events from Carlo Giuliani’s death in Genova in 2001 and Michael Jackson’s death; an interview with Zinedine Zidane; ANSA Updates from Geneva durino G8’s fights.
Carlo Antonelli is the Editor in chief of the italian edition of Rolling Stone magazine.
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Anonymous AGAINST RATZINGER
160 pages | 2006
non fiction
pamphlet
Rights sold to Debate (SPAIN) Seven Stories Press (USA) Patakis (GREECE) Nakladatelství Grimmus (CZECH REPUBLIC)
“A desecrating and refined book” – LA REPUBBLICA
The topic of this book is the message of the current pontiff as well as his moral and philosophical solidity. It examines the instructions of the prefect, the theologian lectures, and the speeches of the Pope from his arrival to Rome in 1981 up to his first encyclical in January 2006. It covers the life, the political actions (including the most unknown and embarrassing ones) of the Pontiff and it also analyzes the mediatic image of Benedict XVI – as well as how it compares to that of his predecessor. A pamphlet useful for understanding, necessary for self-defense.
Read an excerpt from the American edition
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Anonymous AGAINST RATZINGER 2.0
64 pages | 2007
non fiction
Rights sold to Debate (SPAIN) Seven Stories Press (USA) Patakis (GREECE) Nakladatelství Grimmus (CZECH REPUBLIC)
“A desacrating and refined book” – LA REPUBBLICA
"The anonymous brilliant author of Against Ratzinger analyses with shar precision almonst everything the Pope has written in his life” – PANORAMA
The first months of his papacy provoked enthusiastic applauses and even tougher confrontations. Against Ratzinger 2.0 is a libel à la Voltaire that analyzes the famous discourse of Ratisbona, raccounts a mad love story between a priest and his housekeeper, and reveals that the mayorship of Rome doesn’t guarantee freedom of speech. In the end, you will assist at an epocal joint venture among the monothesitic leaders. In Against Ratzinger the argumenation is philosophical, in 2.0, primarily irony has been chosen. In order to demonstrate and to ridicule the orthodoxy of the hard-working apologists of Ratzinger, it also focuses on secondary stories, which are only seemingly unimportant.
The author has chosen to remain anonymous in the tradition of the pamphlets of the 1600s. Therefore, the publisher takes responsibility for the ideas expressed.
English edition available
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Stefano Benzoni YOUNGSTERS DON’T EXIST ANYMORE | I giovani non esistono
128 pages | 2008 essay
“A caustic book which is every now and then exhilarating” – CORRIERE DELLA SERA
“This essay analyses in an original way the reality of a Country which is not for young people anymore” – LA REPUBBLICA.
“This essay analyses in an original way the reality of a Country which is not for young people anymore. la Repubblica The population of the western world grows older; the elderly return to dominate pop culture and the market. In this provocative book on the relationship between the elderly, power, and popular culture, a merciless look is taken at present-day Italy in the hands of yesterday’s young people. In pursuit of seventy years old VIPs transfigured by scalpels and synthetic hair, thrown back into the meat market by abundant doses of Viagra, they crowd exotic beaches relaxing in the sun. They resist in the blockhouses of their retirement homes surrounded by new pleasing objects, lubricated and sparkling, planning their future at the expense of those who remain, talking a lot about young people. A reflection on the phenomenon that most transforms society, changes fashions and customs, chooses the TV programs, and puts the majorities in crisis.
Stefano Benzoni (1972), children neurospsichiatrist and psychotherapist, lives and works in Milan. He is the author of Nove domande sulla coscienza, Il presente discontinuo and Psychofarmers®, Isbn 2006.
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