Product Description

From the early Italian adventurers who played an important role in the European expansion across the Atlantic to the political and business leaders of the 1990s, this book tells a dramatic story. The heart of the story is the mass migration that took place between 1880 and 1924, when a whole culture left its ancient roots to settle in the cities and towns of America.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50529 in Books
• Published on: 1993-09-15
• Released on: 1993-09-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The core of this gripping, panoramic chronicle is the mass emigration of Italians to the U.S. between 1880 and 1924. Their road to assimilation was marked by hard work, family solidarity, tradition-laden weddings and joyous festivals, but also by poverty, miserable housing, dangerous working conditions and marriages that "often seethed with tensions" despite a public image of unity and warmth. Mangione ( Mussolini's March on Rome ) and Morreale ( A Few Virtuous Men ) trace discrimination against Italian Americans, arguing that politicians and the media fanned prejudice after WW II by resurrecting the Mafia image of the 1890s. They discuss Italian Americans' awareness or denial of their heritage, providing cameos of Sacco and Vanzetti, Fiorello LaGuardia, Frank Sinatra, Don DeLillo, John Ciardi, Francis Coppola and dozens more. Early chapters discuss Italian adventurers (such as Columbus) and Italians who fought in the American Revolution and the Civil War; a later one touches on intermarriage and divorce, which have contributed to the decline of immigrant culture. A magnificent saga that illuminates a century of accomplishment and struggle. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-- The richness and variety of the Italian immigrant experience in America are captured here. Portraying the journey from the harshness and poverty of rural Italy and Sicily to the teeming ghettos of New York, Boston, and other American cities, the authors tell of the five-and-a-half million Italians who made the voyage. Utilizing newspaper articles, diaries, and novels to record first-hand recollections, their stories provide a microcosm of the immigrant experience, in general, and a record of the many contributions of Italian-Americans to the cultural mosaic of the United States. A rich source of materials for understanding the multicultural experience.
- Richard Lisker, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Since Columbus's discovery of the New World, Italians have played a vital part in shaping the Americas. La Storia ("the story") tells of these ethnic struggles and triumphs from 1492 to the present. This is not the personal voyage recently taken by Gay Talese in Unto the Sons ( LJ 2/1/92), although La Storia is more potent and valuable because of its inclusive breadth and scope. Mangione ( Mount Allegro , Columbia Univ. Pr., 1981) and Morreale ( A Few Virtuous Men , Tundra Bks., 1973. o.p.) report on a vast array of historically important topics: from the environment that spawned the mass migration overseas to the challenge of survival in a mostly hostile new homeland to the decline of religion and the tightknit traditions currently affecting the second and third generations. Past and present names (Amerigo Vespucci, Don DeLillo) and events (colonization, labor movements) are expounded upon so that the text has solid reference value. An important complement to history or Italian collections.
- David Nudo, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Interesting Italian History
This book is a very interesting historical accounting of the arrivals of Italian immigrants and the cultural affects they had on America and vice versa, including hardships they experienced. The author makes very poignant comparisons and contrasts between Italians in relation to the other ethnic groups who were in America at the time. More importantly, he exlains and describes the conflicts, differences, and discrimations between the Northern Italians and the "Mezzogiorno," or Southern Italians and the subgroups they segregated into and embraced in resistance to the unified Italy, even in a new nation.

Want to know who the *real* Sacco and Vanzetti were?
Did you know the largest mass lynching in American history was of Italian Americans?

I minored in Italian American studies as an undergrad. As you may imagine, there isn't that much literature out there that comprehensively covers "the Italian American experience", so La Storia was a recurring staple of the curricula for more than a few of my classes.

The information contained in this book is for the most part helpful, a great introduction from the beginnings of Italian Americana to the late 20th century. Many people today (regardless of heritage) do not know enough about Italian culture, although it is a huge part of the fabric of America. Also discussed is the political and economical history of 19th century Italy (something many Americans know nothing about), providing a nice starting point from which to put the Italian American experience into perspective. Although the authors mention the well-knowns like Al Capone and Fiorello Laguardia, what's great about La Storia is Mangione's and Morreale's inclusion of so many important personages of Italian heritage that have become lost in the sands of time.

My issue with this book is not its length but its density. So much information is crowded into every chapter, it's hard to retain all of it (and Mangione's excruciatingly wordy prose doesn't help). There are also some statistics and information nuggets that are uncited, but to the casual reader this won't be of any concern whatsoever.

La Storia is essentially the Bible of Italian American studies; a great cultural and historical overview, and a great introduction to the field. Ultimately, if you know next to nothing about Italian Americana, if you would like to enrich your knowledge, or if you just want to learn more about your cultural heritage, I recommend you buy this book.

quick history
Ideal gift for your Italian Sister in law. You learn her background and she appreciates your interest. I little bit wordy.