"The famous Art Squad police unit is pitted against thieves and smugglers in this broad-ranging study, which shows how Italy has transformed its rich heritage into global cultural capital."

Apollo, "Off the shelf"

"In this thought-provoking book, Greenland walks us through a couple of centuries of evolving cultural heritage policy in Italy. . . . The book offers a ground-breaking discussion of developing Italian policy for cultural heritage, ending with the inevitable neo-liberal entanglements of private capital, but it also contains a wealth of raw material and pointers for further research."

Neil Brodie | Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Book Reviews

"Fiona Greenland’s Ruling Culture: Art Police, Tomb Robbers, and the Rise of Cultural Power in Italy is a meticulous and insightful work inviting the reader to look closer at the construction of Italian cultural power . . . This book is a model in terms of methodology and analysis for its depth and kaleidoscopic approach. It can also serve as a way to reflect on western cultural powers and legal systems in place for the preservation of artefacts and archaeological practices."

Cultural Sociology

“In this beautifully written and insightful study of the mutual entanglement between Italy’s national art police squad and the deeply entrenched tradition of tomb robbing, Greenland’s portrayal of the robbers—in whom Italians see heroic tricksters and traitorous villains by turns—is both sharply analytical and descriptively captivating. She deftly articulates historical and legal detail with a rattling good story.”

Michael Herzfeld, author of Evicted from Eternity: The Restructuring of Modern Rome

“Ruling Culture is groundbreaking. Greenland addresses the problem of how culture is used by states and various non-state actors to foster allegiance to nations, investigating culture as a key building block of national identity and making a convincing case for the difference between cultural power and ideological power.”

Richard Lachmann, author of First Class Passengers on a Sinking Ship: Elite Politics and the Decline of Great Powers

“Ruling Culture provides a detailed and thought-provoking analysis of the construction of Italian national identity. It promises to be a major contribution to our understanding of Italian national identity, the institutional and legal dimensions of heritage, and the disciplinary history of archaeology. Greenland has written a first-rate piece of work and a valuable scholarly contribution.”

Joshua Arthurs, author of Excavating Modernity: The Roman Past in Fascist Italy

"Tomb robbing is not the typical sociological fare, and thanks to Fiona Greenland’s expertise and beautiful writing, Ruling Culture: Art Police, Tomb Robbers, and the Rise of Cultural Power in Italy emerges as a fresh, fascinating work of cultural analysis."

Contemporary Sociology

"[Greenland's] methods and analysis reflect her positionality as a social scientist with a deep appreciation for and understanding of the humanities. Ruling Culture is a model for how to incorporate multiple sources of data within sociological analysis."

American Journal of Sociology