Crossroads Of The Mediterranean

Chapter 2

A writer’s world is inhabited by many beings. Some are imaginary, like the muse whispering in our ears – both distracting and inspirational in equal measure. Some are the spirits who come back to us from distant memories, or the phantoms who materialize from the shadow of our fears. Some are the real, flesh-and-blood people who come and go in our lives, and who stay and persevere throughout the insanity of the creative processs. The sane and encouraging influence in mine was that of my wife, Linda. The literal “push-in-the-back” came from my good friend Don Oldenburg, who after I had been researching this for several years admonished me that “sooner or later, you have to start writing.” And the drive to complete the work came from the memory of my father and the encouraging presence of my daughter, both Sicilians connected by me.

Although The Sicily Chronicles is a work of historical fiction, the story it tells would not have been possible without the research and insights of numerous historians, sociologists, archeologists, anthropologists, and other writers. From their works I have been able to construct a plausible, sensible, and detailed chronology of Sicily, from ancient times to the present day.

The Sicily Chronicles Great thanks and respect are due to hundreds of diverse sources, but the following references are among the most influential in the research I have conducted over the years.

Abulafia, David, The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean, Oxford University Press (Oxford, 2011)

The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean,Attenborough, Richard, The First Eden, Little, Brown (1987)

The First Eden,Benjamin, Sandra, Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History, Steerforth (New Hampshire, 2006)

Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History, Booms, Dirk, and Higgs, Peter, Sicily: Culture and Conquest, The British Museum (2016)

Sicily: Culture and Conquest,Brownworth, Lars, Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization, Broadway Books (New York, 2009)

Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization,Cline, Eric H., 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, Princeton University Press (Princeton, 2014)

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed,Cook, Michael, A Brief History of the Human Race, W.W. Norton (New York, 2003)

A Brief History of the Human Race, Crowley, Roger, Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World, Random House (New York, 2009)

Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World, Cunliffe, Barry, Europe Between the Oceans: 9000 BC to 1000 AD, Yale University Press (2011)

Europe Between the Oceans: 9000 BC to 1000 AD, de Souza, Philip (ed.), The Ancient World at War, Thames & Hudson (London, 2008)

The Ancient World at War,Dickson, D. Bruce, The Dawn of Belief: Religion in the Upper Paleolithic of Southwestern Europe, University of Arizona Press (1990)

The Dawn of Belief: Religion in the Upper Paleolithic of Southwestern Europe,Farrell, Joseph, Sicily: A Cultural History, Interlink Pub Group (Massachusetts, 2014)

Sicily: A Cultural History,Keahey, John, Seeking Sicily: A Cultural Journey Through Myth and Reality in the Heart of the Mediterranean, St. Martin’s Press (New York, 2011

Seeking Sicily: A Cultural Journey Through Myth and Reality in the Heart of the Mediterranean, Lacey, Robert and Danziger, Danny, The Year 1000: What Life was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium, Little, Brown, and Company (Boston, 1999)

The Year 1000: What Life was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium,Linder, Douglas O., “Famous Trials: Gaius Verres Trial (70 B.C.), h***:://www.famous-trials.com/gaius-verres

Mendola, Louis, The Peoples of Sicily: A Multicultural Legacy, Trinacria Editions (2014)

The Peoples of Sicily: A Multicultural Legacy,Mendola, Louis and Alio, Jacqueline, Norman-Arab-Byzantine Palermo, Monreale & Cefalù, Trinacria Editions (New York, 2017)

Norman-Arab-Byzantine Palermo, Monreale & Cefalù, Miles, Richard, Carthage Must be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization, Penguin (London, 2010)

Carthage Must be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization,Mitchener, James A., The Source, Dial Press Trade Paperback (reprint, 2002)

The SourceNesto, Bill, and di Savino, Frances, The World of Sicilian Wine, University of California Press (Berkeley, 2013)

The World of Sicilian Wine,Norwich, John Julius, Sicily: An Island at the Crossroads of History, Random House (2015)

Sicily: An Island at the Crossroads of History, Piccolo, Salvatore, Ancient Stones: The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily, Brazen Head (London, 2013)

Ancient Stones: The Prehistoric Dolmens of SicilyPrivitera, Joseph F., Sicily: An Illustrated History, Hippocrene Books (New York, 2002)

Sicily: An Illustrated History,Robb, John, The Early Mediterranean Village: Agency, Material Culture, and Social Change Neolithic Italy, Cambridge University Press (2007)

The Early Mediterranean Village: Agency, Material Culture, and Social Change Neolithic Italy,Runciman, Steven, The Sicilian Vespers: A History of the Mediterranean World in the Later Thirteenth Century, Cambridge University Press (1958)

The Sicilian Vespers: A History of the Mediterranean World in the Later Thirteenth Century,Sammartino, Peter, and Roberts, William, Sicily: An Informal History, Cornwall Books (1992)

Sicily: An Informal History,Simeti, Mary Taylor, On Persephone’s Island: A Sicilian Journal, Vintage (New York, 1995)

On Persephone’s Island: A Sicilian JournalSimeti, Mary Taylor, Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food, Henry Holt (New York, 1991)

Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food,Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne, History of Food, Blackwell Publishers (1992)

History of Food,White, Randall, Dark Caves, Bright Visions: Life in Ice Age Europe, W.W. Norton (New York, 1986)

Dark Caves, Bright Visions: Life in Ice Age Europe,Useful websites:

www.bestofsicily.com

www.sicilybella.com

http://www.wondersofsicily.com/

http://www.italythisway.com/

www.timesofsicily.com