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Rating: 
Summary: Concise and Informative
Review: The Xenophobes guide to the Italians is a concise, humorous and informative look at the Italian people and their way of life. Among the topics that are mentioned are the importance of regional identities, the North/South divide, and the importance of the family in Italian life, as well as many other things.
The book uses stereotypes and generalizations to describe the people, so it cannot, and should not, account for all Italians. An example of this is in the section writing about how the rest of the world sees Italy - "The typical stereotype of the Italians is that of a noisy, passionate, scheming Mediterranean people, whose brilliance and inventiveness are unfortunately marred by laziness and unreliability".
Another interesting point noted in the book is how the national identity of Italian immigrants is stonger than in other nations, and as a result people such as Robert De Niro, Frank Sinatra, and Diego Maradona are considered to be as much Italian as their newly adopted country.
Rating: 
Summary: Pointing out most of the italians (bad) habits
Review: This book points out most of the italians habits (both the bad and good ones) with respect to family, food, love affairs, etc., giving a good picture of the italian people in an objective, but funny, way. I am Italian and I must admit that most of the attitudes described in the book are real, even if, sometimes, they are a bit exaggerated. I suggest this book to the people who already visited Italy and, therefore, they can easily understand what is a caricature and what is real. Finally, the book can be read in just a couple of hours (I read it during a flight from Holland to Italy).
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