Synopses & Reviews
Radicalism had a powerful but largely unacknowledged influence in the Italian-American community. This study brings together 16 selections that restore to Italian-American history the radical experience that has long remained suppressed, but that nevertheless helped shape both the Italian-American community and the American left. The detailed introduction by the volume editors interprets the overall history of Italian-American radicalism and offers extensive bibliographical references on the topic, which the volume editors organize into three sections: labor, politics, and culture. A concluding selection relates the radicalism of Italian Americans to that in other Italian immigrant communities.
In the section on labor, Rudolph Vecoli, among others, traces the rise and decline of radicalism within the Italian-American working class, and Jennifer Guglielmo breaks new ground in uncovering the involvement of Italian American women in the radical movements. In politics, Paul Avrich unveils the violent reaction of anarchists in the United States to the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, and Jackie DiSalvo identifies Father James Groppi as the most important white leader in the Civil Rights movement. On culture, Julia Lisella, Mary Jo Bono, and Edvige Guinta present pioneering interpretive studies on the work of Italian-American women in literature.
Review
These essays recover a forgotten aspect of the Italian immigrant communities in the US....The introduction, which is a broad interpretive overview of Italian American radicalism by the editors, is alone worth the book's price. While the radical heritage of Italian immigrants perhaps was never quite as "lost" as the editors claim, these essays will make it difficult to ignore. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.Choice
Review
[T]his is a commendable collection of essays, which takes up the concept of radical activity in impressively broad and compelling ways. It is a must for the shelves of anyone studying not only Italian American radicalism, but labor and the Left in the United States in general.Journal of American Ethnic History
Review
In The Lost World of Italian American Radicalism, Philip V. Cannistraro and Gerald Meyer have assembled a collection of essays by academics and independent scholars chronicling the struggles and visions, successes and failures, of this fiery lot of radicals and their many adherents who shook local companies and communities, and often the nation itself, to their foundations as they fought for social justice.Unbound
Review
From the thorough and incisive introduction by its editors, who provide nothing less than an indispensable contribution for anyone seeking to understand the Italian-American experience, this collection represents a long overdue correction of a great omission--the lost world of Italian American radicalism--that invaluably expands and enriches the field of Italian-American studies.Richard N. Juliani Professor of Sociology, Villanova University
Synopsis
Radicalism had a powerful but largely unacknowledged influence in the Italian-American community. This study brings together 16 selections that restore to Italian-American history the radical experience that has long remained suppressed, but that nevertheless helped shape both the Italian-American community and the American left. The detailed introduction by the volume editors interprets the overall history of Italian-American radicalism and offers extensive bibliographical references on the topic, which the volume editors organize into three sections: labor, politics, and culture. A concluding selection relates the radicalism of Italian Americans to that in other Italian immigrant communities.
Synopsis
The entire range of radical thought and activity of Italian immigrants and their descendants in the United States is explored.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Italian American Radicalism: An Interpretive History by Philip V. Cannistraro and Gerald Meyer
Labor
The Making and Un-Making of an Italian Working Class in the United States, 1915-1945, by Rudolf J. Vecoli
War Among the Anarchists: The Galleanisti's Campaign Against Carlo Tresca by Nunzio Pernicone
Italian Workers on the Waterfront: The New York Harbor Strikes of 1907 and 1919 by Calvin Winslow
Donne Ribelli: Recovering the History of Italian Women's Radicalism in the United States by Jennifer Guglielmo
From Working Class Radicalism to Cold-War Anti-Communism: The Case of the Italian Locals of the ILGWU by Charles Zappia
Politics
Sacco and Vanzetti's Revenge by Paul Avrich
No God, No Master: Italian Anarchists and the Individual Workers of the World by Salvatore Salerno
Italian Radicals and Union Activists in San Francisco, 1900-1920, by Paola A. Sensi-Isolani
Italian Americans and the American Communist Party by Gerald Meyer
Father James Groppi: The Militant Humility of a Civil Rights Activist by Jackie Di Salvo
Mario Savio: Resurrecting an Italian American Radical by Gil Fagiani
Culture
The Radical World of Ybor City, Florida by Gary R. Mormino
Follow the Red Brick Road: Recovering Radical Traditions of Italian American Writers by Fred Gardaphe
Behind the Mask: Signs Radicalism in the Work of Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni by Julia Lisella
Rooted to Family: Italian American Women's Radical Novels by Mary Jo Bona
Where They Come From: Italian American Women Writers as Public Intellectuals by Edvige Giunta
Conclusion: Italian American Radicalism in Global Perspective by Donna R. Gabaccia