The first history of Italian football to be written in English, ‘Calcio’ is a mix of serious analysis and comic storytelling, with vivid descriptions of games, goals, dives, missed penalties, riots and scandals in the richest and toughest league in the world.‘Calcio’ tells the story of Italian football from its origins in the 1890’s to the present day. It takes us through a history of great players and teams, of style, passion and success, but also of violence, cynicism, catenaccio...

Cycling was a sport so important in Italy that it marked a generation, sparked fears of civil war, changed the way Italian was spoken, led to legal reform and even prompted the Pope himself to praise a cyclist, by name, from his balcony in St Peters in Rome. It was a sport so popular that it created the geography of Italy in the minds of her citizens, and some have said that it was cycling, not political change, that united Italy.Pedalare, Pedalare! is the first complete h...

'An enjoyable, highly readable history that manages to bring murky, often fiendishly complex events into the light' Sunday TimesItaly emerged from the Second World War in ruins. Divided, invaded and economically broken, it was a nation that some people claimed had ceased to exist. And yet, as rural society disappeared almost overnight, by the 1960s, it could boast the fastest-growing economy in the world.In The Archipelago, historian John ...

In 1961, when Franco Basaglia arrived outside the grim walls of the Gorizia asylum, on the Italian border with Yugoslavia, it was a place of horror, a Bedlam for the mentally sick and excluded, redolent of Basaglia's own wartime experience inside a fascist gaol. Patients were frequently restrained for long periods, and therapy was largely a matter of electric and insulin shocks. The corridors stank, and for many of the interned the doors were locked for life. This was a concentration camp,...

The 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France was a down-and-dirty game, marred by French superstar Zidane's head-butting of Italian defender Materazzi. But viewers were also exposed to the poetry, force, and excellence of the Italian game; as operatic as Verdi and as cunning as Machiavelli, it seemed to open a window into the Italian soul. John Foot's epic history shows what makes Italian soccer so unique. Mixing serious analysis and comic storytelling, Foot describes its humble origi...

*A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR*'A compelling and sobering read' JOHN DICKIE, author of Mafia Republic'Taut and gripping' TELEGRAPH, BEST BOOKS OF 2025'Grimly absorbing' FINANCIAL TIMESThe explosive story of the terrorist group who brought Italy to a standstill in the 1970s.In March 1978, the Red Brigades kidnapped for...

'Clear, cool, plainly written and devastating' Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Times Literary SupplementA major history of the rise and fall of Italian fascism: a dark tale of violence, ideals and a country at war.In the aftermath of the First World War, the seeds of fascism were sown in Italy. While the country reeled in shock, a new movement emerged from the chaos: one that preached hatred for politicians and love for the fatherland; one that promised to bu...

Bloomsbury presents Blood and Power by John Foot, read by Daniel Philpott.'Clear, cool, plainly written and devastating’ Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Times Literary SupplementA major history of the rise and fall of Italian fascism: a dark tale of violence, ideals and a country at war.In the aftermath of the First World War, the seeds of fascism were sown in Italy. While the country reeled in shock, a new movement emerged from the chaos: one that preached hatred for politici...

Bloomsbury presents The Red Brigades by John Foot, read by Mark Meadows.'A compelling and sobering read' JOHN DICKIE'Deeply researched and powerfully written' ROSS KINGThe explosive story of the terrorist group who brought Italy to a standstill in the 1970s.In March 1978, the Red Brigades kidnapped former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, murdering his bodyguards. Fo...

This work examines the place of the Arabs in the evolution of medicine and in science during the Middle Ages.“In order to understand the place of the Arabs in medicine and in science, a few words as to the rise of this people to political power, and then to the cultivation of literature and of science, are necessary. We hear of the Arabs as hireling soldiers fighting for others during the centuries just after Christ, and especially in connection with the story of the famous Queen Z...

‘He wore number one. He was the number one. He truly is one of one’ James Horncastle, Serie A reporter for The Athletic‘A superb and revealing autobiography’ John Foot, author of Calcio: A History of Italian Football'Few could debut at seventeen against that Milan and keep a clean pair of shorts, let alone a clean sheet, but Gigi did' James Richardson, The Totally Football Show____...

Paris is a city made for walkers. One can cross is on foot from Montmartre to Montparnasse in half a day – but why would you want to, when there are so many intriguing distractions, from cafes, restaurants and boutiques to museums, galleries, and sites associated with twenty centuries of history? In Paris on Foot, prize-winning travel author John Baxter, a thirty-five-year resident in the city, shares for the first time his favorite promenades around Paris; the hidden gems known only to so...