The Prague Cemetery

Umberto Eco

Nov 2011 · HarperCollins

About this ebook

The Prague Cemetery is the #1 international bestselling historical novel from the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco.

Nineteenth-century Europe—from Turin to Prague to Paris—abounds with the ghastly and the mysterious. Jesuits plot against Freemasons. Italian republicans strangle priests with their own intestines. French criminals plan bombings by day and celebrate Black Masses at night.

Every nation has its own secret service, perpetrating forgeries, plots, and massacres. Conspiracies rule history. From the unification of Italy to the Paris Commune to the Dreyfus Affair to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Europe is in tumult and everyone needs a scapegoat.

But what if behind all of these conspiracies, both real and imagined, lay one lone man?

“Choreographed by a truth that is itself so strange a novelist need hardly expand on it to produce a wondrous tale... Eco is to be applauded for bringing this stranger-than-fiction truth vividly to life.” —The New York Times

Ratings and reviews

If you are wondering why the rabid commentators of the right are so successful, Umberto Eco's book about a fictional, diabolical 19th Century arch manipulator of the media is an excellent primer for understanding their motivations. Sensationalism is not evil on its own. When you link it to misogyny, homophobia, racism and anti-semitism, which are common threads among right wing commentators, you begin to see how these so called "reporters" become the apologists for the genocides and pogroms of the future. How did Christian Germany fall in line so easily with Adolf Hitler's racism? They were desensitized by a literature of anti-semitism that was extremely popular in Europe in the 19th Century. They were primed to hate. The Prague Cemetery is a thriller. It is fast paced. It is rich in references. Its antagonist, (there is no protagonist in this book) insinuates a message of hate (Elders of Zion)which he sells to various intelligence agencies. The message is modified to meet the needs of the purchaser. And it explains to me why Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Savage Nation, Alex Jones and others exists along with their paranoid fantasists who vent their bizarre ideas over its airwaves.

I finished reading this book last night/this morning (it was after 03:00) and WOW. Since reading 'Foucault's Pendulum' about fifteen years ago I've had an itch for something as dark, misleading, and indirect (and ultimately rewarding) as this book was to read. Now, I'm kind of sorry it's over. Eco has written a story for our time and for no time. Try reading it and see, but be aware there is a lot of outrageous stuff going on (like maybe in the real world, eh?)

About the author

Umberto Eco was born in Alessandria, Italy on January 5, 1932. He received a doctorate of philosophy from the University of Turin in 1954. His first book, Il Problema Estetico in San Tommaso, was an extension of his doctoral thesis on St. Thomas Aquinas and was published in 1956. His first novel, The Name of the Rose, was published in 1980 and won the Premio Strega and the Premio Anghiar awards in 1981. In 1986, it was adapted into a movie starring Sean Connery. His other works include Foucault's Pendulum, The Island of the Day Before, Baudolino, The Prague Cemetery, and Numero Zero. He also wrote children's books and more than 20 nonfiction books including Serendipities: Language and Lunacy. He taught philosophy and then semiotics at the University of Bologna. He also wrote weekly columns on popular culture and politics for L'Espresso. He died from cancer on February 19, 2016 at the age of 84.