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Honour and Violence. Anton Blok. Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, Inc., 2001. 358 pp.
Best known in the United States for his 1974 book, The Mafia of a Sicilian Village, Dutch anthropologist Anton Blok has devoted much of his career to two theoretically related research projects, one focusing on the Sicilian mafia, and the other on rural banditry in the Dutch Republic during the 18th century. Both reflect his central interest in the two issues that furnish the name of this new volume, Honour and Violence.
Eleven of the book's 12 chapters consist of previously published articles or book chapters. Only the fairly brief introduction and the chapter on mafia blood symbolism have not previously been published; however, three chapters had not previously appeared in English. Some of Blok's older chapters are well known to U.S. anthropologists, especially those on Mediterranean agro-towns and on social banditry published over three decades ago.
The now-dated older essays in this volume are evidence of earlier debates and are primarily of historical interest. Such is the case, for example, with Blok's attack on the "social banditry" thesis, first put forth by Eric Hobsbawm in the 1950s. Blok makes a strong case that the notion of the "social bandit" owes more to popular legend than to actual historical behavior. In fact, he argues, such bandits show little consideration for...