Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History

By: Sandra Benjamin

Narrated by: Fred Filbrich

Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Tourists, armchair travelers, and historians will all delight in this fluid narrative that can be read straight through, dipped into over time, or used as a reference guide to each period in Sicily's fascinating tale.

Emigration of people from Sicily often overshadows the importance of the people who immigrated to the island through the centuries. These have included several who became Sicily's rulers, along with Jews, Ligurians, and Albanians. Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, Muslims, Normans, Hohenstaufens, Spaniards, Bourbons, the Savoy Kingdom of Italy and the modern era have all held sway, and left lasting influences on the island's culture and architecture. Sicily's character has also been determined by what passed it by: events that affected Europe generally, namely the Crusades and Columbus's discovery of the Americas, remarkably had little influence on Italy's most famous island.

©2006 Sandra Benjamin (P)2012 Steerforth Press LLC

Critic reviews

"A compact history of the Mediterranean's largest island, the most frequently conquered spot on earth. . . . The author does an especially good job of explaining how history never quite goes away in Sicily, how through the accretion of centuries, through so many varied influences, the island's unique culture has emerged. . . . A useful introduction to a portion of the world whose crowded history is not easily condensed." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"Benjamin ... manages to deliver this fantastic island in all its kaleidoscopic variety. Although she takes us from pre-history to present day, the pace feels unhurried and the writing almost conversational. Divided into chapters devoted to each successive wave of invader, Sicily keeps our attention in the first place thanks to Sicily's layered history and colorful cast of heroes and scoundrels. and in the second to Benjamin's wonderfully terse, ironic tone and lively sense of the ridiculous." ( Providence Journal)

Excellent content, poor narration

This is a thorough yet manageable history of Sicily. The author makes 3000 years of history entertaining and not at all overwhelming. The narrator, on the other hand, makes absolutely no attempt to pronounce the names of historical places, figures, and terms correctly; his butchering of terms is grating and very hard to listen to.

Great beginning and ending.

Great coverage of the Sicilian heritage, oppression of Sicilians and their tolerance and strength of survival. The ending brought out the great quality of Sicilians including the mafiosi who have never killed a tourist nor a regular Sicilian citizen. I liked the narrators voice, bit I wish he had done his homework with the Italian pronunciation of cities and other words. Putting the accent on the wrong syllable changes the name or word.

Amazing account/history of Sicily

Phenomenal diversity account of a culture often times misjudged and overlooked.

3000 years of history was a great listen to anyone interest in learning the WHY Sicily was know as the jewel of the Mediterranean with its fertile soils and rich deposits.

I feel there could be deep dives in each time period covered - so much occurred on this little island it was a great listen.

listened before and during visiting sicily

The narrator is great. Loved his voice. Very well delivered. I felt the account of Sicily's history was, for the most part, given from an unbiased point of view and more fact based. It was nice to listen as I packed for my trip. Once here in Sicily, I continued to listen to the end. I feel I have a better understanding of where I am and much more respect for a place and people as I tour their ancient and even recent sites.

Fascinating book that explains Sicily

One cannot avoid feeling bad for the people of Sicily, an island that was destined by its central and strategic location to be run over and occupied over and over, leaving a lack of trust in authorities that still shapes it's character.

Real insight in sicilian people and culture

Please disregard all the negative reviews. Condensing 3k years of history in 16 hrs is not an easy task. Listening to this has helped me put in place missing pieces i had in the sicilian jigsaw puzzle. Great listen!

Fantastic historical account !!

This work by Sandra Benjamin on 3000 Years of Human History is one of the most - if not the most interesting and captivating I have ever read ! The narrator is also great !!! I plan to listen to it all over again - Full of really important history but written in a way that is totally riveting !! Highly recommend!!

Highly informative and one of the best narrations I experienced.

Very detailed and well researched. The narrator did a great job. It's a long read (listen) but I was always eager to get back to it. I'll listen to it again. Wish I had this book prior to my trip to Sicily two years ago. I'll certainly listen to it again before my next visit. What an interesting country. Tragic in many ways. The book gave me a much richer understanding of "my people" -- their history, trials, and psyche.

Fascinating

This story of Sicily is well done and enlightened me to the many happenings that make Sicily the place it is today

Surprisingly compelling!

Any additional comments?

I am planning a trip to Sicily and bought the print version of this book to read. I spend so much time (3 hours a day round trip) commuting in terrible traffic, I was delighted to see that it was also available in audio, so I listened to it instead of reading it. I am happy to report the audio version was outstanding.

The writing is simple and straightforward - totally appreciated - and the story of the island is fascinating. It's made learning about Sicily fun and interesting. I think the book is great background for anyone planning to travel to Sicily. I only wish the author had written more books. I think this is the best basic introduction to the island's history. I feel it's better than any guidebook I own (and I own pretty much all of them) - very focused and easy to follow...better than spending a fortune on tour guides!

Again, if you are planning a trip, this is ESSENTIAL background - and well delivered. Highly recommended