The Mafia of a Sicilian Village 1860-1960 by Anton Blok

The Mafia of a Sicilian Village 1860-1960

A Study of Violent Peasant Entrepreneurs

by Anton Blok

Harper Torchbooks, Harper & Row, 1975, b/w photographs, paperback, ISBN 006131790X

Very Good Condition, does have edge and shelf wear, pages age-toned,(see photographs)

'The central characteristic of mafia, in Blok's view, is the private use of unlicensed violence as a means of control in the public arena.  Although real people employ the unlicensed violence, although some people are full-time specialists in its employment, Sicily has never had any single organisation one could properly call The Mafia.  The Mafia supergang is a simplifying fiction, invented by publicists and by Fascist officials charged with eliminating southern lawlessness.  On the other hand, there really are mafiosi - men wielding power through the systematic use of private violence.  The sum of their actions makes up the phenomenon called mafia ...'