Abstract

The paper develops a critical review of two influential Italian books - by Oriana Fallaci and Giovanni Sartori - concerning Islamic countries and immigration to Italy from those countries. It is stressed how the two books, although belonging to very different literary genres, share - both conceptually and rhetorically - many features. The analysis focuses on such similarities on three levels: the framing of the relationship between the authors and their audience, the definition of the issue, and the relationship between the arguments presented in the books and the available empirical evidence. The analysis concludes that both books fail in meeting most criteria of rational debate and that they are basically mistaken in several key points.