Why am I passionate about this?

Often, historians choose their field or specialty, but sometimes, the field chooses the historian. Being a historian of southern Italy, the land of my ancestors reflects far more than a merely academic interest. As a personal pursuit, it isn’t just what I am but who I am. I write the kind of books that I wish had existed when I wrote my first peer-reviewed article in 1984. This has come to include everything from general histories to specialised studies to translations of medieval chronicles. Through the website Best of Sicily, online since 1999, my work has reached a readership of millions over the course of two decades.


I wrote

The Kingdom of Sicily 1130-1860

By Louis Mendola,

Book cover of The Kingdom of Sicily 1130-1860

What is my book about?

This book fills a void in the histories of this lengthy period published in English. It considers a nation, a…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

The books I picked & why

Book cover of A History of Muslim Sicily

Louis Mendola Why did I love this book?

This is the first general history of Sicily’s Muslims in English and the lengthiest, full of information, with a special emphasis on the era from the Aghlabid conquest in 827 until the demise of the Kalbid emirs around 1070.

Leonard Chiarelli’s endnotes are more interesting than the main texts of most other books on this topic, striking for details such as phylogeography (genetics) and his discovery of an Ibadi community in Sicily.

The author is unique among Anglophone Arabists for being raised speaking Sicilian as well as English, something that facilitates his unique ability to explain which Sicilian words derive from Arabic. This is something that, as a Sicilian, I appreciate.

By Leonard C. Chiarelli,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A History of Muslim Sicily as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A History of Muslim Sicily is a study of the period of Muslim Arab rule on the island from A.D. 827 to the Norman conquest in A.D. 1070. It is first the detailed study in English covering the various aspects of this 243-year period. It incorporates new Arabic sources and draws upon archaeological studies that hitherto have not been used. The book covers the political, social, economic, demographic, and cultural impacts that during this period forever changed the islands character. All aspects of society underwent change, making Sicily part of the Arabo-Muslim world for more than two hundred years. The…


Book cover of Margaret, Queen of Sicily

Louis Mendola Why did I love this book?

The most powerful woman in Europe for at least five years, Margaret of Navarre, was all but ignored until this 512-page biography appeared. Reading a “secret” story drawn from original sources in Italy and Spain was part of the book’s appeal for me.

Born near Pamplona in 1135 to a descendant of El Cid, Margaret wed William I, son of Roger II, first King of Sicily. Following her husband’s death, she was queen regent for a young son, William II, for five eventful years. Ruling two million in a multicultural realm that encompassed Sicily and almost half of the Italian peninsula, she undertook all kinds of decisions, some with Roger’s widow and other women.

True feminism.

By Jacqueline Alio,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Margaret, Queen of Sicily as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sometimes it takes just one strong woman to tame a pack of zealous men. Meet Margaret of Sicily.

For five years during the twelfth century, Margaret of Navarre, Queen of Sicily, was the most powerful woman in Europe and the Mediterranean. Her life and times make for the compelling story of a wife, sister, mother and leader. This landmark work is the first biography of the great-granddaughter of El Cid and friend of Thomas Becket who could govern a nation and inspire millions.

In Margaret's story sisterhood is just the beginning. The Basque princess who rose to confront unimagined adversity…


Ad

Book cover of Call Me Stan: A Tragedy in Three Millennia

Call Me Stan By K.R. Wilson,

When King Priam's pregnant daughter was fleeing the sack of Troy, Stan was there. When Jesus of Nazareth was beaten and crucified, Stan was there - one crossover. He’s been a Hittite warrior, a Silk Road mercenary, a reluctant rebel in the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381, and an information peddler…

Book cover of Following Caesar: From Rome to Constantinople, the Pathways That Planted the Seeds of Empire

Louis Mendola Why did I love this book?

Historical travelogues were once the stuff of National Geographic, but John Keahey, who had a long career as a journalist, is part of a new wave of authors reviving that tradition. 

His Italian travels have yielded several books, two on Sicily alone. If his work touches the soul of the people and places he encounters, this one was certainly challenging for its emphasis on the ancient Romans of West and East, but he was able to meet a few of their descendants in Italy, Albania, and Greece.

I enjoyed reading about his journey.

By John Keahey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Following Caesar as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In 66 BC, young, almost unknown but ambitious Julius Caesar, seeking recognition and authority, became the curator of the Via Appia. He borrowed significant sums to restore the ancient highway. It was a way to gain crucial electoral votes from Roman citizens in towns and villages along the route, built from Rome to Brindisi between 312-191 B.C. He succeeded and rapidly grew in popularity, supported by grateful villagers along the route. After achieving greatness in Rome and the far reaches of Gaul, he led armies along this road to battle enemies in Roman civil wars. And then, across the Adriatic…


Book cover of Antoinette's Sister

Louis Mendola Why did I love this book?

Historical fiction, when well-researched, sometimes brings us uncommon insight into people and their times. This is one of those rare cases.

Very little has been written in English about Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily (later the Two Sicilies) as the consort of Ferdinando I de Bourbon, except in dynastic histories such as those of Harold Acton.

In the absence of a major biography, I recommend this book as a worthy introduction, tracing the queen’s steps and considering her actions as the power behind the throne.

By Diana Giovinazzo,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Antoinette's Sister as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

As Marie Antoinette took her last breath as Queen of France in Paris, another formidable monarch-Antoinette's dearly beloved sister, Charlotte-was hundreds of miles away, in Naples, fighting desperately to secure her release from the revolutionaries who would take her life. Little did Charlotte know, however, that her sister's execution would change the course of history-and bring about the end of her own empire.

"You are the queen. You are the queen that Antoinette wanted to be."

Austria 1767: Maria Carolina Charlotte-tenth daughter and one of sixteen children of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria-knows her position as a Habsburg archduchess will…


Ad

Book cover of A Last Serenade for Billy Bonney

A Last Serenade for Billy Bonney By Mark Warren,

In this deeply researched novel of America's most celebrated outlaw, Mark Warren sheds light on the human side of Billy the Kid and reveals the intimate stories of the lesser-known players in his legendary life of crime. Warren's fictional composer and Santa Fe journalist, John Blessing, is assigned to report…

Book cover of The Godmother

Louis Mendola Why did I love this book?

This book’s realism is appealing. Leigh Esposito has deep roots in the Italy, about which she writes, hence her passion but also her keen insight.

Despite its suggestive title, this novel is not specifically, exclusively, about the Mafia, which is just one of its themes. Rather, it is a story about strong women and the complex relationships that exist within families. One of the novel’s many subtexts is the nature of contemporary Sicilian society compared to its eclectic “diaspora” in places like the United States and Canada.

Eminently sophisticated.

By Leigh Esposito,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Godmother as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Explore my book 😀

The Kingdom of Sicily 1130-1860

By Louis Mendola,

Book cover of The Kingdom of Sicily 1130-1860

What is my book about?

This book fills a void in the histories of this lengthy period published in English. It considers a nation, a culture, and a people sometimes overlooked by other Italians following the unification of what is now Italy in 1860.

Encompassing Sicily and peninsular Italy south of Rome, the former territory of Magna Graecia eventually became the multicultural kingdom founded in 1130. It divided in 1282 to be reunited as the Two Sicilies in 1816, emerging as the wealthiest, most populous, and technically advanced of Italy’s pre-unitary states, boasting a sophisticated legal code. This is the story of a place and its people.

Book cover of A History of Muslim Sicily
Book cover of Margaret, Queen of Sicily
Book cover of Following Caesar: From Rome to Constantinople, the Pathways That Planted the Seeds of Empire

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,586

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 You might also like…

Book cover of A Last Survivor of the Orphan Trains: A Memoir

A Last Survivor of the Orphan Trains By Victoria Golden, William Walters,

Four years old and homeless, William Walters boarded one of the last American Orphan Trains in 1930 and embarked on an astonishing quest through nine decades of U.S. and world history.

For 75 years, the Orphan Trains had transported 250,000 children from the streets and orphanages of the East Coast…

Book cover of Hayley and the Hot Flashes

Hayley and the Hot Flashes By Jayne Jaudon Ferrer,

Country music diva Hayley Swift has fallen off the charts and into a funk. Desperate to regain her place in the limelight, she agrees to a low-budget tour of Southern venues, starting with her 35th high school reunion.

There, in an unexpected but fortuitous reconnection, The Girls Next Door —who…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Italy, Sicily, and Rome?

Italy 411 books
Sicily 55 books
Rome 339 books