A CONCISE HISTORY OF ITALY

Narrator Jonathan Keeble brings a fine British accent and a pleasingly gruff voice to this account of Italy's (mostly political and economic) history. The history wanders to start with, and in modern times tends toward a listing of one incident after the next--occasionally Keeble sounds a bit tired of it. But, for the most part, his narration is thoughtful, showing attention to each sentence, yet still energetic, and he is very able at shaping phrases and conveying meaning. When there's an opportunity to act (as in quotations) or add a bit of excitement (at the end of WWII, for example), he does. This is, overall, an intelligent and capable delivery of an informative overview of Italian history. W.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2019]