In this lively and engaging history, Stephen Puleo tells the story of the Boston Italians from their earliest years, when a largely illiterate and impoverished people in a strange land recreated the bonds of village and region in the cramped quarters of the North End. Focusing on this first and crucial Italian enclave in Boston, Puleo describes the experience of Italian immigrants as they battled poverty, illiteracy, and prejudice; explains their transformation into Italian Americans during the Depression and World War II; and chronicles their rich history in Boston up to the present day.

In this lively and engaging history, Stephen Puleo tells the story of the Boston Italians from their earliest years, when a largely illiterate and impoverished people in a strange land recreated the bonds of village and region in the cramped quarters of the North End: Sicilians lived next to Sicilians, Avellinesi among Avellinesi, and so on. Focusing on this first and crucial Italian enclave in Boston, Puleo describes the experience of Boston's Italian immigrants as they battled poverty, illiteracy, and prejudice (Italians were lynched more often than members of any other ethnic group except African Americans); explains their transformation into Italian Americans during the Depression and World War II; and chronicles their rich history in Boston up to the present day. He tells much of the story from the perspective of the Italian leaders who guided and fought for their people's progress, reacquainting readers with pivotal historical figures like James V. Donnaruma, founder of the key North End newspaper "La Gazetta" (now the English-language "Post Gazette"), and politician George A. Scigliano. The book's final section is devoted to interviews with today's influential Boston Italian Americans, including Thomas M. Menino, the city's first Italian American mayor. The story of the Boston Italians is among America's most important, vibrant, and colorful sagas, and necessary reading for anyone seeking to understand the heritage of this ethnic group.

The first published history of the Italian-American community in this area, Italian Americans of Greater Boston: A Proud Tradition traces the migration of Italians to America through the development of Italian communities in Greater Boston. Most of the images in this collection have never been viewed by the public. Entire chapters are devoted to the themes of Italian-American family life, commerce and labor, culture and education, religion and philanthropy, and politics and government, underscoring in each instance the special contributions Boston's secondlargest ethnic group has made to the history of the metropolitan area.

Illustrated Z99 100 vintage photos this book is a delightful and fascinating collection of oral histories from people who immigrated from Italy to Bostons North End around the turn of the last century

The first published history of the Italian-American community in this area, Italian Americans of Greater Boston: A Proud Tradition traces the migration of Italians to America through the development of Italian communities in Greater Boston. Most of the images in this collection have never been viewed by the public. Entire chapters are devoted to the themes of Italian-American family life, commerce and labor, culture and education, religion and philanthropy, and politics and government, underscoring in each instance the special contributions Boston's secondlargest ethnic group has made to the history of the metropolitan area.

Using interviews and photographs, Anthony Riccio provides a vital supplement to our understanding of the Italian immigrant experience in the United States. In conversations around kitchen tables and in social clubs, members of New Haven's Italian American community evoke the rhythms of the streets and the pulse of life in the old ethnic neighborhoods. They describe the events that shaped the twentieth century—the Spanish Flu pandemic, the Great Depression, and World War II—along with the private histories of immigrant women who toiled under terrible working conditions in New Haven's shirt factories, who sacrificed dreams of education and careers for the economic well-being of their families. This is a compelling social, cultural, and political history of a vibrant immigrant community.