"A Harvest book."

Originally published: 2007.

Título original : A passo di gambero.

Some reflections on war and peace -- Love America and march for peace -- The prospects for Europe -- The wolf and the lamb: the rhetoric of oppression -- Enlightenment and common sense -- From play to carnival -- The loss of privacy -- On political correctness -- On private schools -- Science, technology, and magic -- For whom the bell tolls: a 2001 appeal for a moral referendum -- The 2001 electoral campaign and veteran Communist strategy -- On mass media populism -- Foreigners and us -- Revisiting history -- The revolt against the law -- Pasta cunegonda -- Chronicles of the late empire -- Between Dr: Watson and Lawrence of Arabia -- Words are stones -- Back to the seventies -- Kamikazes and assassins -- Holy wars, passion, and religion -- Negotiating in a multiethnic society -- The taking of Jerusalem: an eyewitness report -- Beauty queens, fundamentalists, and lepers -- What are we to do with the pre-Adamites? -- The roots of Europe -- The crucifix, its uses and customs -- On the soul of the embryo -- Chance and intelligent design -- Hands off my son! -- Those who don't believe in God believe in everything -- Relativism? -- Are the Italians anti-Semites? -- The plot -- Some of my best friends -- Some of her best friends -- A dream -- On the shoulders of giants -- On the disadvantages and advantages of death.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

A collection of previously published articles.