Capri - the Island Revisited - Mackowen's Classic Text with Comprehensive New Modern Material (Paperback)

John Clay MacKowen's classic work Capri was published in 1884, but its spirited and informative writing remains as attractive for the modern reader as it did when it first appeared. This present edition starts with a newly typeset version of the original book and then takes it further with new chapters by modern specialists, each one bringing MacKowen's material up to date in the light of modern scholarship and findings. The choice of topics is wide - the island's geology, palaeontology and archaeology, its prehistory, the long periods under the Roman emperors and on through the middle ages to the modern era, and the many outside influences that throughout its entire history have left their mark on the economy and social life of its people. This extended version also contains much new information on the author himself. He was in turn a decorated officer in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, a medical doctor, a passionate and knowledgeable collector and bibliophile, and a twenty-year resident in Capri before finally sailing home to his native Louisiana.The story of his murder on the day he arrived off the boat in New Orleans, and the disappearance at the same time of two cases of rare books and bindings that he had brought with him from Capri, has been enshrined in all previous accounts of his life - and has now been shown to be completely false. The truth of his last years and the destination of his collection of priceless books - now safely in the care of a university library - has proved to be very much more interesting. The work has been prepared under the editorial direction of Anna Maria Palombi Cataldi, Professor of English in the University of Naples and Director of the Library of the Centro Caprense Ignazio Cerio in Capri. There are numerous illustrations, full supporting references, a bibliography and a comprehensive index.