Every Other Time is Peace

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The story is about a mercenary soldier during the seventeenth-century Thirty Years’ War, his encounters with fictional and real characters such as Descartes, the engravers Merian and Jacques Callot, the vicissitudes of the conflict between battles, massacres, and plague epidemics. In the near future of a disastrous 2032, on the other hand, an anonymous former art dealer spends his days locked away in a phalanstery on Viale Togliatti, after Rome has been almost razed to the ground by bombs and war has once again become long and harrowing. With a series of cross-references, swashbuckling adventures, and dramatic visions, Vittorio Giacopini captures the fears and absurdities of the world we live in, where history seems to repeat itself and human errors never teach us how to protect precious times of peace. His writing – erudite, sharp, and immensely rich – becomes a space for great adventures and searing insights