The memoir of a great and misunderstood city, this book is a contribution both to literature and history. A sensuous paean to Italian pleasures, it is also the story of the American military advance northward up the boot of Italy during World War II. See Naples begins four years after the war had ended. Allanbrook, living in a house above the gorgeous ruin of Naples, is passionately involved with an Italian woman who is a ringer for Bette Davis. He is in love with Italy, with the scugnizzi (wiseguys) of the back alleys, with the opera at San Carlo, with this most dramatic of cities. Allanbrook had earlier been among the first Americans to land in North Africa, at Christmas in 1943, and had lived for years uncomfortably close to the fighting, in a division that took heavy casualties. Watching as his friends died, he was among those few who won through to watch the tide of war ebb. See Naples has great sweep, rich humor, and broad learning. It is a remarkable creative act, a stunning tri Read Less