"The crux of all of Italy's problems," wrote the great Italian journalist Luigi Barzini in his 1964 classic, The Italians, "is why did Italy, a land notoriously teeming with vigorous, wide-awake and intelligent people, always behave so feebly? Why was she invaded, ravaged, sacked, humiliated in every century, and yet failed to do the simple things necessary to defend herself?"

As if in answer comes a book with the same title, British journalist John Hooper's The Italians, a look at the same people from the outside in.

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Source: http://www.dallasnews.com/