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Review Italia: Civilta e Cultura is an extremely useful and versatile tool for our intermediate and advance students of Italian. The manuscript offers a sound, comprehensive overview of Italy's culture, wonderfully capturing its geography, history, art, music, literature and cinema. It is a valuable learning tool capable of enriching the experience of both students and teachers of Italian. We are delighted to adopt it at the Institute. (Francesca Valente ) Italia: Civilta e Cultura provides a fine supplement to any Italian language and culture course, as it covers Italian geography, history, literature, art, cinema, and culture in an appropriate and succinct manner. It should become very popular among North American Italian language instructors. (Peter Bondanella ) This book also presents the added advantage of introducing the student to a concise and coherent overview of the most important aspects of Italian culture and civilization while easily lending itself to further expansion, classroom discussion and research. Insofar as the book meets the stated pedagogical objectives, I am fully convinced that it will have an important impact in our profession and that will be widely welcomed in our schools and colleges. (Roberto Severino, Ph.D. ) About the Author Paola Lorenzi is Assistant Professor of Italian and Director of the Italian Language Program at Pepperdine University where she successfully established a minor and Bachelor of Arts in Italian Studies. A native of Italy, she received her Laurea in Foreign Languages and Literature from the University of Florence. She also attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California for post-graduate studies in art, design and photography. In 2007 the Italian government honored her with the distinguished title of "Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana". Her translations of various works have been published in journals of Italian studies. Luisetta Elia Chomel is Professor of Italian Emerita at the University of Houston where she was the director of the Program of Italian Studies. During her thirty years on the faculty of the University, her activity was directed toward the expansion of the program of Italian, as well as research. She introduced a number of new courses and, in 1992, established a Bachelor Degree in Italian Studies. Dr. Chomel is the author of a book on D'Annunzio's theater and numerous articles on Italian literature, theater, and cinema.

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Allende's lively retelling of the Zorro legend reads as effortlessly as the hero himself might slice his trademark "Z" on the wall with a flash of his sword. Born Diego de la Vega in 1795 to the valiant hidalgo, Alejandro, and the beautiful Regina, the daughter of a Spanish deserter and an Indian shaman, our hero grows up in California before traveling to Spain. Raised alongside his wet nurse's son, Bernardo, Diego becomes friends for life with his "milk brother," despite the boys' class differences. Though born into privilege, Diego has deep ties to California's exploited natives—both through blood and friendship—that account for his abiding sense of justice and identification with the underdog. In Catalonia, these instincts as well as Diego's swordsmanship intrigue Manuel Escalante, a member of the secret society La Justicia. Escalante recruits Diego into the society, which is dedicated to fighting all forms of oppression, and thus begins Diego's construction of his dashing, secret alter ego, Zorro. With loyal Bernardo at his side, Zorro hones his fantastic skills, evolves into a noble hero and returns to California to reclaim his family's estate in a breathtaking duel. All the while, he encounters numerous historical figures, who anchor this incredible tale in a reality that enriches and contextualizes the Zorro myth. Allende's latest page-turner explodes with vivid characterization and high-speed storytelling. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the edition. From The fictional Zorro debuted in Johnston McCulley’s serialized potboiler in 1919; since then, he’s made some dramatic comebacks. By recasting this swashbuckling hero in the context of his personal history, Allende follows in the path of her recent historical fiction like Daughter of Fortune (1999) and Portrait in Sepia (2001). Critics agree that while Zorro is light and entertaining, it is also a serious piece of literature—even if some reviewers were confounded by Allende’s mix of history and reality. Allende inserts a postmodern bent into her traditional storytelling, drawing feminist and racial themes and presenting a narrator with a hidden identity. Critics mainly disagreed about Zorro. Most thought him convincingly contradictory, while a couple viewed him as one-dimensional. Despite these complaints, most agree that Zorro is a captivating, modern version of the famed legend. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to the edition.