'McCarthy gives an exemplary account - the best to appear in English so far - of what went wrong with the Italian State during the nearly fifty-year duration of the First Republic.' - Times Literary Supplement '(McCarthy) lays bare the causes of the decline of the ancien regime...this is not a simple account of the death-throes of the Christian Democrats, but a study that explains contemporary Italy by delving into its past.' - Le Monde 'Learned and thought-provoking...McCarthy has many shrewd things to say about the corruption of the state and its relations with a rapidly changing Italian society...lucid, insightful, and original.' - Foreign Affairs