Selected as "Best Travel Books of the Year 2023 (So Far)" by Wanderlust Magazine, Top Summer Read by Wall Street Journal, Times Literary Review, Tertulia, PBS Next Avenue, Kirkus Reviews, Foreword Magazine Review
"Biggers is also a persuasive champion of modern Sardinian culture...Much more than a travelogue, In Sardinia is compendious and evocative."--TLS, Times Literary Supplement, London
"Biggers is an enthusiastic and erudite guide. Seeking out the past in local lore and in Sardinia’s long and overlooked literary tradition, he returns the island to the center of our imaginative map of the Mediterranean."--Wall Street Journal
"At last, a grand companion to the mysterious and enchanting island of Sardinia."--Frances Mayes, New York Times bestselling author of Under the Tuscan Sun
"Il libro di Jeff è unico, da questo punto di vista. È un capolavoro: nel senso di opera che, secondo me, conclude definitivamente l’epoca di uno sguardo esclusivamente esterno e ne inizia un’altra." "Jeff's book is unique in this respect. It is a masterpiece: in the sense of a work which, in my opinion, definitively concludes the era of an exclusively external gaze and begins another."--Fiorenzo Caterini, Sardegnablogger
"In Sardinia is an indispensable and necessary international guide. To discover a Sardinia still little known outside the national borders and to reveal its multiform riches and diversity. In Sardinia è una guida internazionale indispensabile e necessaria. Per scoprire una Sardegna ancora poco conosciuta fuori dai confini nazionali e per rivelarne le multiformi ricchezze e diversità."----Paolo Fresu, legendary Italian jazz leader, and author of In Sardegna: Un viaggo musicale
"It's a magnificent achievement."----Tobias Jones, author of The Po: An Elegy for Italy's Longest River
"In Sardinia passionately recounts Biggers' discovery of a place long considered out of time and history. With an agile writing style but one that reveals the extensive research behind the text, In Sardinia takes the reader on a discovery of an island-as-a-continent, its rich historical heritage as well as its increasingly vibrant contemporary cultural life." --Maria Bonaria Urban, author of Sardinia on Screen
"A fascinating book that reads like a novel."--Rick Steves, Rick Steves Europe
"A fine mix of geography and history that offers a vigorous riposte to the various misunderstandings heaped upon Sardinia."--Booklist
"Neither holiday postcard nor dry ancient history, this is a fascinating journey around Sardinia."--Kirkus Reviews
"Biggers has created a fascinating portrait of Sardinia departing from its literary traditions and is perhaps the first writer in English to investigate so thoroughly Sardinian poetry."--California Review of Books
"A delightful travelogue."--Foreword Magazine review
"A successful and well-written blend of history, travel, art, literature, and culture." -- The Washington Independent Review of Books
"A consummate storyteller, Jeff Biggers deftly weaves his modern Sardinian odyssey into the fabric & folklore of this enigmatic island with a light touch that carries the reader along."--Italia! magazine
"A fascinating read about a fascinating island, the book takes us beyond the storied beaches and adds context and texture to Sardinia's already rich cultural history."--Voce Italiana
"This book is the closest thing to a summer adventure in Sardinia without actually going there."--Tertulia
Award-winning historian Jeff Biggers opens a new window into the hidden treasures of Sardinia in a groundbreaking travel narrative that crisscrosses one of the most fascinating places in Italy
After three decades of living and traveling in Italy, Jeff Biggers finally crossed over to Sardinia, uncovering a treasury of stories amid major archaeological discoveries rewriting the history of the Mediterranean.
Based in the spectacular port of Alghero, guided through the island’s rich and largely untranslated literature, he embarked on a rare journey around the island to experience its famed cuisine, wine, traditional rituals and thriving cultural movements.
“Sardinia is something else,” D. H. Lawrence wrote in 1921. On the 100th anniversary of Lawrence’s visit, Biggers chroniclies how new archaeological findings have placed the island as one of the cradles of the Bronze Age. From the Neolithic array of Stonehenge-like dolmens and menhir stone formations to the thousands of Bronze Age "nuraghe" towers and burial tombs, the vastness of the uninterrupted cycles of civilizations and their architectural marvels have turned Sardinia into the Mediterranean's "open museum."
Beyond its fabled beaches, reconsidering how its unique history and ways have shaped Italy and Europe today, Biggers explores how travelers must first understand Sardinia and its ancient and modern history to truly understand the rest of Italy.
In the tradition of Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia, Mark Kurlansky’s Basque History of the World, and Frances Mayes’ and Tim Parks’ narratives on Italy, In Sardinia is a major new addition to travel writing and literature in Italy.
EXCERPTS AND REVIEWS
TLS: Times Literary Supplement: Outpost of isolation The history of an island with ‘no history’
Wall Street Journal: ‘In Sardinia’ Review: Mediterranean Crossroads
Rick Steves Interview: In Sardinia
Washington Independent Review of Books: A worthy corrective to the island’s unfairly tarnished reputation.
Sardegnablogger: Per capire l’Italia bisogna conoscere la Sardegna.In Sardinia, An unexpected journey in Italy.di Jeff Biggers. Recensione di Fiorenzo Caterini
l'Unione Sarda Interview: Storico Americano contro la visione che sminuisce l'isola
LitHub: “The Land of the Muses.” How Sardinia Became Italy’s Island of Poets
Atlas Obscura: This Mysterious Ziggurat Was an Ancient European Pilgrimage Site
Salon: Death in Sardinia, Murder, an unpublished masterpiece and Italy's misunderstood island
Large-Heart Boy Blog: Jeff Biggers’ Playlist for His Book “In Sardinia”
Foreword Magazine Interview: In Sardinia with Jeff Biggers
Travel Writing World Podcast Interview: In Sardinia interview
California Review of Books: In Sardinia
KJZZ NPR Radio Interview: Why this region in Italy has the same tourism-related issues as Arizona
A Writer in Italy podcast interview: https://www.buzzsprout.com/324497/12901466
Flavors of Italy podcast interview: https://flavorofitaly.com/trips-travel/italian-regions/sardinia-sardegna/in-sardinia/
Tucson Local Media: Visit Italy with Jeff Biggers
PRAISE
"In Sardinia is an indispensable and necessary international guide. To discover a Sardinia still little known outside the national borders and to reveal its multiform riches and diversity. It is no coincidence that this opens with the Ogliastra artist Maria Lai and closes with the poet of Desulo, Montanaru, just as it is no coincidence that, in this almost intimate text, the many “Sardinias” are represented through a kaleidoscopic variety of languages and cultures, landscapes and knowledge, sounds, tastes and encounters. In Sardinia is an unmissable journey that starts from an inner story to be shared with the vast world. A journey capable of filling that profound void, which makes that stone thrown into the Mediterranean a teeming patch of land yet to be revealed."— Paolo Fresu, legendary Italian jazz musician and composer, author of In Sardegna: Un viaggio musicale
"At last, a grand companion to the mysterious and enchanting island of Sardegna. Known to most travelers for its beaches, Sardinia’s complex archeological heritage extends back to Neolithic times. Jeff Biggers, the consummate traveler / scholar starts in beautiful Alghero and begins exploring the entire island, delving into the rich traditions of music, arts, dialects, crafts, and literature. Along the way, he and his family revel in local lore, festivals, food, and wine. Written with verve and love, In Sardinia is the book I’ll be taking on future trips."--Frances Mayes, New York Times bestselling author of Under the Tuscan Sun
"It's a deeply satisfying dive into the Sardinian soul, but at the same time the writing is so spare and essential - almost as if somehow reflecting the silences and spaces of the island as well. Every page taught me something new about Sardinia's literature, legends, landscape, icons and customs. I found it moving because it's a book which traces the contours of the terrain and hears its ancient voices. It's a magnificent achievement."--Tobias Jones, author of The Dark Heart of Italy, The Po: An Elegy for Italy's Longest River
"How to tell the story of an island that over the centuries has been the subject of endless narratives and in the collective imagination is identified with an authentic, exotic and primitive land? Jeff Biggers accepts the challenge and with In Sardinia passionately recounts his discovery of a place long considered out of time and history. With an agile writing style but one that reveals the extensive research behind the text, In Sardinia takes the reader on a discovery of an island-as-a-continent, its rich historical heritage as well as its increasingly vibrant contemporary cultural life. Perhaps the secret of Jeff Biggers' work is to be found in that moving back and forth in time and space, and from one voice to another, a narrative into which the readers are led as they follow their narrator, because it is only by relocating the island in the flow of History, in its complex dynamics with other lands and peoples, that the traveller will be able to appreciate the richness and complexity of the island of the nuraghes."--Maria Bonaria Urban, author of Sardinia on Screen: The Construction of the Sardinian Character in Italian Cinema
"This book is neither conventional history nor tourist guide. The author wants readers to experience this exploration of the people, terrain, and many-layered civilization of Sardinia as an expansive s'arrogliu, or “storytelling gathering,” about the region. Biggers and his family moved to Alghero, a port city in northwest Sardinia, in 2017, then journeyed all over the island in the ensuing five years. His recounting of Sardinia's history as the Mediterranean's "most vigorous place of intersection between societies” includes invasions and colonization over 2,000 years. The author pays special attention to prehistory, as Sardinia's ancient monuments—Neolithic dolmens, menhir stone formations, Bronze Age towers—create an "endless museum" of artifacts and ruins, but he does not ignore the island's traditional arts and culture. Nearly every page of this dense volume is packed with art, literature, and song. Excerpts from oral and written texts set the scene for each chapter, and 35 pages of bibliographic notes further fill out the context. Biggers is especially good at describing the wealth of Sardinian literature and its notable figures, such as novelist Grazia Deledda, the first Italian woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature, in 1926. He also describes the long tradition of political and underground Sardinian literature, a "language of resistance" in the face of Italy's fascist-era prohibitions. Sardinian shares a lexicon with Latin but has its own Indigenous roots, flowering in 75 dialects. Artists still use traditional techniques for contemporary expression, helping shape Sardinian identity and providing its villages "a narrative of viability" in the age of globalization. The inhabitants of this mostly rural, low-density island have had to push back against a centurieslong reputation for banditry, barbarism, and peril. The author’s rich, detailed chronicle of his family's yearslong exploration serves as a compelling guide and a new appreciation of an overlooked island.
Neither holiday postcard nor dry ancient history, this is a fascinating journey around Sardinia."--Kirkus Reviews
"Jeff Biggers’s In Sardinia is a story about becoming enchanted by an Italian island—its history, customs, literature, art, ancient archaeological sites, and heroes and legends too.
Biggers regards Sardinia as one of Italy’s most complex and beguiling regions. Years after his first visit, it continues to hold him. But on his first introduction to the island, he and his family were greeted by a furious mistral; their boat landed on its rocky coast, where the boulders appeared to be sculpted by the gale-force winds.
Curious and willing to be surprised, Biggers (a journalist, historian, and travel writer) ventured along Sardinia’s back roads, encountering places that tourists never see. On one such excursion, the grandson of one of the island’s poet laureates was so eager to show Biggers where Antioco Casula had lived that he abandoned his lunch. The book is alive with such encounters, covering the island’s artists, poets, writers, artisans, shepherds, and innkeepers and the stories they told.
Capturing Sardinia as a rugged, demanding land of astounding natural beauty, Biggers notes that its history is one of family loyalty, secrets, passion, and vengeance. Bronze Age Sardinia was a vital trade partner that possessed rich resources—its silver mines even supplied King Solomon’s legendary city. Biggers traces the island’s strong, vibrant culture (older than the ancient civilizations of Rome, Greece, and Etruria) to show how it withstood all attempts to eradicate it. Today, the whole land is called an “open museum,” with thousands of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments, Stonehenge-evocative dolmens, burial tombs, and towers dotting the landscape.
In Sardinia is a delightful travelogue that unearths magical stories from beneath island stones."--Foreword Magazine review
TLS: Times Literary Supplement in London Review
Outpost of isolation
The history of an island with ‘no history’
The Sardinia of D. H. Lawrence’s Sea and Sardinia (1921) is a squalid place, despite the exemplary masculinity of its men and the savage beauty of its terrain. But Lawrence spent barely a week on the island. Jeff Biggers moved to Alghero in 2017 for an extended period. He has explored every corner, talked to a lot of people and read a great deal. In Sardinia is devoid of primitivist nonsense.
Sardinia has “no history”, Lawrence pronounced – a ludicrous falsehood perpetrated by many writers since classical times. Thousands of Neolithic and Bronze Age structures and artefacts – notably the enigmatic buildings known as nuraghi – attest to a deep-rooted civilization. The Giants of Mont’e Prama – a mighty phalanx of forty stone figures unearthed in western Sardinia in the 1970s – were sculpted for a necropolis dating from around the twelfth century BCE and predate the kouroi of ancient Greece. It’s remarkable that so much has survived, given the depredations to which the island was subjected by the Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Spaniards, Pisans, Genoese and other invaders.
Biggers employs the term “historicide” in discussing the neglect of Mont’e Prama, and regards its ruination as symptomatic of a wider denial of Sardinian culture. Aggrieved on the island’s behalf, he notes that the ziggurat of Monte d’Accoddi (c.3,500BCE) is not even mentioned in The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, and that only 2 percent of the 7,000 or more nuraghi have been excavated. Italian schoolchildren are taught little about Sardinia’s archaeological wealth or even its more recent history. For most Italians and tourists, bandits and beaches come to mind much more readily than the exquisite bronze Nuragic figures that were once traded all over the Mediterranean. Widely thought of as the sitting duck of the region, ancient Sardinia in fact was an active participant in European trade, with connections reaching from Ireland to the Middle East.
Biggers is also a persuasive champion of modern Sardinian culture – not just the renowned folk singers and dancers, but visual artists such as Maria Lai, Francesco Ciusa, Edina Altara, Costantino Nivola and Pinuccio Sciola. He celebrates the jazz trumpeter Paolo Fresu and Antioco Casula, the “poet laureate of Sardinia in the twentieth century”. Of the island’s novelists, Salvatore Satta and Grazia Deledda have been widely translated, as has Gavino Ledda’s Padre Padrone (1975), but lamentably little else. Only one of Sergio Atzeni’s novels is available in English, for example, and none of Giulio Angioni’s.
Much more than a travelogue, In Sardinia is compendious and evocative, but the structure of several sections would have benefited from a firmer editorial hand and the text is marred by first-draft carelessness: “Ancient Sardinia was far from any outpost of isolation”, for example, or “linguists have noted more than seventy-five dialects across the island, if not more”. And for a book of this kind, a single map is inadequate illustration.--TLS Review, London, June 23