Product Description
In Spanish/En Espanol ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Sumptuous Treat
The World of Don Camillo is a compilation of five famous volumes: 'The Little World of Don Camillo', 'Don Camillo and the Prodigal Son', 'Don Camillo's Dilemma', 'Don Camillo and the Devil' and 'Comrade DonCamillo'.

Peppone grows from Mayor to Senator. And from the Po valley toMother Russia Don Camillo hounds him sans respite.Russia finds him as aneven better comrade than Comrade Peppone. As usual, at his wit's end thepriest invariably muscles his way through. He leaves little room forPeppone and his hench men to complain. Don Camillo as the delightfulnemesis to Communism never stales our palates.

The stories give us apanoramic insight intoGuareschi's genius as one of the world's mostbeloved story tellers. They are at once delightful and thought provoking. Afew are melodramatic but all serve to delight the reader with a humanistic,rollicking flavour that is powerfully Italian. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Don camillo
It is an Excellent Book.It will last through the ages.Readers of all ages will enjoy it and be enlightened by it. The book is worth every Dollar that you spend upon it.

But there is a small technical,ethical FRAUD , perpetuated on the Buyer by the Publishers.

That is : This book was already published under another name:
Don Camillo Meets Hell's Angels".
I wasted my money in buying a book that I already have.And I resent that .

Don Camillo's toughest challenge: the younger generation!
Even all his years of battling--first against the
Fascists, then against the local Communists--
have left the big Italian priest from the Po
Valley unprepared for a visit from his
wayward niece, Flora.To make matters worse, the
Curia has sent over a young priest to help bring
Vatican II to Don Camillo's parish!Meanwhile,
old foe Peppone faces challenges from
both new political rivals and his biker son,
"Venom."

Giovanni Guareschi's sixth "Don Camillo" book,
published shortly after his death in 1968,
is as charming as ever, though the new ideas
which have invaded the Little World give a
slightly different feel to this last entry in the
series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Don Camillo
This is a wonderful book.It can be read any number of times. Still it does not lose its innate humour and charm.As a political satire it is even better than any of George Orwell's books.A book for all times and for all ages. Human foibles and weaknesses and Divine Virtues are abundantly portrayed in this book.It makes fun of the Catholic Church as well as the Communists.A truly inspiring work. I am only sorry that I do not know Italian.Since to read it in the original language would give the greatest pleasure.If anyone is not satisfied after reading it.Tell me .I will buy it from you. I have given this book away to many of my friends and foes alike.
yours sincerely ,
Diljit C.Shah,E-mail:diljitshah@yahoo.co.in. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Early farce by "Don Camillo" author "makes people smile"
Some eight years before "The Little World of Don Camillo" became a hit in English, Italian readers were chuckling over Giovanni Guareschi's story of humble woodcarver Camillo Debrai, an innocent who is unfortunate enough to cherish an unrequited passion for the well-born (but not entirely scrupulous) Carlotta Wonder.Upon learning of his affection, she, to secure an inheritance needed to support a gaggle of free-loading relatives, takes advantage of the situation and hastily arranges a wedding to the bemused laborer.But Debrai, pronounces the family's ancient matriarch, must be brought "up to snuff" before he may actually be introduced to the world as the spouse of Carlotta, and so he is secretly packed off to what amounts to a Swiss finishing school for young men.The real complications ensue when, in his absence, there arrives a "more appropriate" suitor for Carlotta's hand ...

This 1942 effort, the third of Giovanni Guareschi's "pre-Camillo" farces, is a fun book written, in the author's words, "with the intention of making people smile."If the option had existed on the review form, I'd actually have given it 3.5 stars.While it's not as consistently funny, original, and energetic as Guareschi's "Duncan and Clotilda" (the other of his early comedies available in English), and while its screwball situations and characters may seem fairly "stock" after half a century, "School for Husbands" *does* admirably fulfill its author's stated intention.*I* smiled a lot while reading this book.

Note:"School for Husbands" was the British title of this book; in the US it was published as "A Husband in Boarding School." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

What POD shouldn't be
This is a very poorly executed print-on-demand book that is difficult to read because of the really bad typesetting. The illustrations are unreadable, having been scanned at very low resolution. Buy a used copy of Don Camillo and His Flock (same book plus another chapter or two) and you will be much happier. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Satire at its best
Guareschi was an Italian journalist, novelist, better known for his stories of Father Camillo and his relationship with the communist major Peppone.Both characters carry ideological disputes in a satiric and humoristic fashion.Through their discourse, Guareschi gave expression to his political ideas, especially with respect to communism."Don Camillo Meets Hell's Angels" is just one among a series of short novels ("The Little World of Don Camillo", "Don Camillo and his Flock", "Don Camillo and the Prodigal Son", "Don Camillo and the Devil", "Don Camillo's Dilemma", "Don Camillo takes the Devil by the Tail", "Comrade Don Camiilo", "Don Camillo meets the Flower Children") which made him one of the most popular writers in Italy.

The setting is a small village by the river Po, where both characters will confront each other with opposing views in social, religious, and political issues.Guareschi's solution is one of compromise and mutual acceptance.The whole series of Don Camillo novels reminds us of "Monsenhor Quixote" of Graham Greene.Delightful and relaxing little book, the entire series should be re-edited. ... Read more

Product Description

Giovannino Guareschi (1908-1968) was an Italian journalist, humorist, and cartoonist best known for his short stories based on the fictional Catholic priest Don Camillo. In this study, Alan R. Perry explores the Don Camillo stories from the perspective of Christian hermeneutics, a unique approach and the best critical key to unlocking the richness of both the author and his tales.

The stories of Don Camillo, the cantankerous but beloved priest, and his sidekick, Communist mayor Peppone, continue to entertain viewers and readers. Their Cold War adventures, mishaps, arguments, and reconciliations have a timeless quality, and their actions reflect endearing values that prevail even today. The stories delight, to be sure, but the best of them also force us to stop and think about how Guareschi so powerfully conveyed the Christian message of faith, hope, and love. To appreciate the true genius of Guareschi, Perry argues that we must delve deeper into the latent spiritual meaning that many of his stories contain. In reflecting popular understandings of the faith, the Don Camillo tales allow us to appreciate a sacred awareness of the world, an understanding communicated through objects, gestures, expressions, and actual religious rites.

The first full-length scholarly examination of the Don Camillo stories to appear, this book offers a solid appreciation of Italian cultural values and discusses the ways in which those values were contested in the first decades of the Cold War.

Customer Reviews (5)

Entertainment at its best
I read most or all Don Camillo books as a kid. I loved them then and I love them now. Only one of those books survived in my collection so I'm glad they're available through Amazon. These books were originally my father's and I have no idea where he found them. These books have been circulating around in my family's and friend's homes forever, and must be like the most often read of all of our books.

I used to reach out to these books whenever I needed a good laugh. Still I think the books often send out a story of love and loyalty towards the reader as well. When push comes to shove the villagers stick together against outsiders and common enemies. This of course while trying to outsmart and get the upperhand over each other in the process.

While there's a lot to laugh about in the books there are also more serious issues dealt with in the books as well. I'm sure that these books will appeal to both the younger and the older generations. If you don't know these books, please pick up one and I guarantee that you will be in for a real treat. Don Camillo books are entertainment at its finest.

Entertaining read at all ages
Don Camillo books are such wholesome treasures. The first time I read the series was more than 25 years ago and I wanted to revisit them. They were still fresh and applicable in many ways to our day to day lives. Don Camillo's eternal rivals are the Italian communists of the day. A communist Italian sounds like a joke today and the Don was the first to see it in his day, I suppose. (How can you make a communist from an Italian? This impossibility becomes quite obvious in the visit to the former USSR.)

When I was reading it again I could not help finding parallels with the corporate bureaucracy and its systems that we created in the past decade or two. The tactics to maintain the corporate bureaucracy seemed quite similar to those humorously described in Don Camillo's world.A very entertaining read, that I highly recommend.

Highly recommended
These short stories are absolutely charming. They're not cute, sweet, or preachy in the slightest, and although they deal with a Christian priest, I really don't think anybody of any faith could read these short stories and not enjoy them.I myself am not Christian but I love the Don Camillo stories.

They're short stories about a priest in Italy (Don Camillo) around mid-century, when communism is just gaining a foothold in the country. Don Camillo is a big, strong man with a hot temper despite being a priest, and he strongly disagrees with communism. The leader of the local communist party and Mayor of the town is an equally strong and hot-tempered atheist called Peppone who believes Christianity and Communism are incompatible. The two constantly fight and resort to all sorts of tricks and schemes to best the other -- Don Camillo to convince Peppone to respect god and the church, Peppone to convince Don Camillo that Communism is the way of the future and that Christianity is standing in the way of progress. Don Camillo often treads a very fine line between defending the church and behaving inappropriately as a priest, and occasionally gets a reprimand from god for going too far, as well as whatever Peppone may have dealt him.

The stories are great satire on the follies of people in general, and very funny. I don't believe in god, but if I ever did discover I am wrong and there is a god, I would like him to be Don Camillo's god. The overall message is not anything preachy, but simply the basic goodness of people and the importance of tolerance and forgiveness.

Nice
I grew up with this book- it's children's fiction at its best- witty and readable at the ripe old age of 23.Adults may even enjoy it more than kids, but it presents an even-handed and sympathetic portrait of "the little world"- the Po valley in Italy.It's unfortunate that it's not read more often.i'm told that Guareschi was very well loved by a generation of European children, regardless of nationality. If in doubt, just get it!

Enchanting, outrageous, and scathingly witty!
Don Camillo and his Flock, the second in the series of Guareschi's fabulous tales of Don Camillo, a hot-tempered parish priest, and the communist Mayor Peppone, his equally hard-headed enemy. The two loathe eachother, and often resort to blackmail and schoolboy tricks in order to gainan advantage over the other. The stories are outrageously funny: there'sthe tale of Rhadames, the choirboy who can't sing. And the story of Smilzo,"a young gentleman who decides to put the doctrine of free love intopractice." And finally, the gilded angel on top of the church that DonCamillo can't quite fathom. At the end of it all, it's Don Camillo andPeppone who must temporarily sort out their differences to bring order tothe day. A fine rainy day, any day read, over and over again, this book istruly one of the finest examples of satire, with, and literary magic everto weave its spell on me. ... Read more