Synopses & Reviews
Passage to Liberty recaptures the drama of the 19th and 20th century immigration to America through photos, letters, and other artifacts -- uniquely replicated in three-dimensional facsimile form. In the tradition of
Lest We Forget, Chronicle's bestselling interactive tour through the African American experience, the text uses the stories of individuals and families -- from early explorers, through the wave of 19th century impoverished families, to contemporary figures -- to recapture the rich heritage the Italian people carried with them over the waves, and planted anew in the American soil.
Among the topics covered here are:
- The roots of American democracy in Roman history
- The migration of 15 million Italians, 1880-1920
- Catholicism in Italian-American culture
- Food, music, and other Italian cultural traditions
- The Mafia: myth and reality
- Cultural icons: DiMaggio, Sinatra, Madonna & more
As vibrant and packed full of history as previous volumes in this extraordinary series, Passage to Liberty is a splendid and loving tribute to the Italian-American experience.
About the Author
A. Kenneth Ciongoli is a trained neurologist with a passion for Italian American history. He is the past president of the National Italian American Foundation, and is listed in Whos Who in American Medicine, and among the Top 100 Italian “movers and shakers” in
Italia magazine.
Longtime friends, Jay Parini and Ken Ciongoli cowrote Beyond the Godfather: Italian American Writers on the Real Italian American Experience.
Michael Hoffman is a filmmaker known for creating complex and layered stories with great attention to detail and character. A skilled writer and director, he has worked on both feature films and documentaries, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Emperor's Club, Game of Six, and the ESPN documentary Out of the Blue. The Last Station is his most recent film.
Jay Parini is a professor of English & Creative Writing at Middlebury College in Vermont. A writer and academic, he is best known for his novels and poetry. He is the author of the novel The Last Station, which is now a major motion picture from Sony Classics.