Nation, Pride and Dignity. Borg Olivier and the National Anthem

“Nation, Pride and Dignity. Borg Olivier and the National Anthem is another systematically constructed historical account, profusely annotated, written in an equally vivid and subtle style. It may be simultaneously defined as (a) a historical account of how difficult it was for Malta to attain some degree of official recognition for its newly composed national anthem, as well as (b) a portrait of a Maltese political leader seeking to introduce an agenda with an item much more controversial than an anthem: Independence itself. Prime Minister George Borg Olivier, about whom Joseph M. Pirotta has frequently written with great admiration regarding his political achievement and exceptionally calm nature, is here being proposed in a way which, however revered he has been for decades, must prove quite alien to many. An equally gentle and timid person, apparently submissive and actually irrevocably stubborn, the political leader whom Joseph M. Pirotta here succeeds in depicting so well, albeit through exclusively scientific methods, is a man deeply proud of his country.”