"LA STORIA: FIVE CENTURIES OF THE ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE" by J.
Mangione and B. Morreale [1992] paperback 1993. Well, five centuries is
stretching it a bit unless you include Columbus. The US isn't that old!
It only takes the authors about 10 pages to get thru' Vespucci,
Verrazzano, Vigo, Mazzei and a few "names" before they are up to the Civil
War. From then on the book takes off and gives a detailed overview of
Italian immigration and Italian American history. This should give you a
framework of how your Italian ancestor fits into U. S. history ....I just
don't like grand titles that are fluff .. La Storia: The Italian American
Experience ... that would tell it far better.
"BLOOD OF MY BLOOD: THE DILEMMA OF THE ITALIAN-AMERICANS" by Richard
Gambino [1974] This is a memoir, history, social history, political view,
etc. of the role Italian Americans today [1970's] and in the recent past.
Gambino looks at all sides of the Italian American experience. I read this
a number of years back. It's old, but worth finding. What problems did
your Italian ancestors face? What do Italian Americans still face? This
book is especially well written ... the memoir style helps. The author's
growing up as an Italian American and how that fits into Italian culture
and the larger US society.
"WOP!: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF ANTI-ITALIAN DISCRIMINATION IN THE UNITED
STATES" by Salvatore J. LaGumina [1973]. LaGumina notes that at the time
of the Civil War there were only 10,000 Italian-born residents of the
entire United States. The anti-Catholic prejudices of the 1840's and
1850's were directly mainly at the Irish and to a lesser extent at the
Germans, mainly because they were huge in number, while the Italians were
few in number. After 1880, anti-Italian prejudice grew as the number of
immigrants grew. Most of this book is articles, editorials, cartoons from
the newspapers of the time. It might be rough reading, but if you want to
know what your ancestors were up against, it might be worth your while to
find this book.
I also found another Ellis Island book:
"ELLIS ISLAND: A PICTORIAL HISTORY" by Barbara Benton [1985]. Lots of
photographs. Excellent for the period from 1892 to WWI. Would help w/
Italian and any immigration group that passed thru' Ellis Island.
To all the people on the lists: I can help w/ general histories, but I
have NO SOURCE material on specific names of special individual ancestors.
I think it's important to read as much as we can to find out who our
ancestors lived. I have no Italian ancestry, but am interested in the
topic of 19th - early 20th century immigration.
Hope some of this helps somebody!
David
On Tue, 31 Dec 1996 FIDGETYG@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 96-12-31 18:37:17 EST, you write:
>
> << 've got a few general histories of Italian immigration also, if you'd
> want titles.
> David >>
> thanks for the information, I would appreciate the book listings. I am going
> to be reading a lot this year!
> FidgetyG@aol.com
>