Mafia and Other Plays is the second volume of the series Writing like Breathing. An Homage to Dacia Maraini. The anthology offers a substantial and unique selection of Maraini's theatrical pieces translated into English. It is a collection of twelve plays written by Dacia Maraini between 1990 and 2016, most of which were never before published in the original Italian, including the following: Mussomeli-Düsseldorf (Mussomeli-Düsseldorf), 1988; Celia Carli, ornitologa (Celia Carli, Ornithologist), 1990; Lia che si credeva Antigone (Lia, Who Thought Herself Antigone), 2006; Diotima e Socrate (Diotima and Socrates), 2007; Mi chiamo Antonino Calderone (My Name is Antonino Calderone), 2010; Bakunin: Il leone e il coccodrillo (Bakunin: The Lion and the Crocodile), 2014; Una pittrice di provincia (A Provincial Painter), 2016.
There are several themes covered in the volume, among which: the Mafia in Sicily and its ramifications in Italian politics and society ("On Mafia", Mafia and My Name is Antonino Calderone); anarchy, revolution, justice, freedom, and equality as embodied by the paternal figure of Russian anarchist Bakunin (Bakunin: The Lion and the Crocodile); the generational differences between a typical Sicilian housewife and her daughter (Mussomeli-Düsseldorf); the obsession of a possessive father who ends up killing his own daughter (To Protect You Better, My Child); the tragedy of Giulia along with another twenty-seven students who died in the rubble of collapsed university dorms during the April 6, 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy (Per Giulia). The anthology begins with Maraini's "A Theatrical Dream," an essay on playwriting that serves as an introduction to the book.