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What happens when vast wealth, a virtual media monopoly, and acute shamelessness combine in one man? As the brilliant Alexander Stille demonstrates in this blistering, newsbreaking book, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi has outdone himself, and undone his country. Many are the crimes of Berlusconi, and if you can shield your mind from the human costs, there's something appallingly entertaining about this extraordinary chronicle of rank criminality, cronyism, and self-dealing at the highest levels of power. The scale, the sums, the stakes, the backdrops: The Sack of Rome is a story of gargantuan appetites, diabolical cleverness, and ruthless maneuvering in a land where the normal checks and balances don't apply. If you combined the political might of President Bush, the star power of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the media holdings of Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch, the money of Ross Perot and Steve Forbes, and the real estate and personal arrogance of Donald Trump, and if this same media-political Frankenstein had also been charged with innumerable serious crimes, you would begin to get an idea of how long a shadow Berlusconi casts over Italian public life. And because Italy has long been a laboratory for bad new political ideas, Berlusconi's combination of media, money, celebrity, and politics is more than simply a dark, fascinating fairy tale; it is a glimpse into the future of modern democratic politics. A monumental work of investigative reportage by one of the world's most celebrated Italy watchers: if a book can do any real damage to this man, then this book is the one.
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