Rhode Island residents greeted the 1997 publication of a photographic history of their state with much enthusiasm. The first volume of Italian-Americans in Rhode Island chronicled the Italian-American community's rising significance in the state's development--in government, business, religion, and civic affairs. The author of that volume, Joseph Muratore, has worked again to produce a second book on Italian-Americans in Rhode Island that includes many new images. Italian-Americans in Rhode Island Volume II covers the history of the early Italian settlers, who quickly established themselves in the jewelry business, the manufacturing field, and construction business, thus creating thousands of jobs for the immigrants who followed. With their aggressive ingenuity, Italian-Americans developed, manufactured, and assembled machinery and equipment capable of mass production. In this book, the author captures in photographs the primitive plants and equipment used, the local businesses that the immigrants committed themselves to, and the results of the Italian-Americans' contributions to the economic development of Rhode Island.

From humble immigrant beginnings, the Italian-American community in Rhode Island grew to become a significant factor in the state's development. In government and in business, in religion and in civic affairs, Italian-Americans in Rhode Island contributed a great deal to the development of their communities. This marvelous new photographic history seeks to recognize those contributors and spotlight their achievements. Covering the period from 1884 to 1996, this volume showcases images from the author's personal archives, and the collections of local families, the Providence Public Library, and the Coalition of Italian Organizations. Major Italian-American figures in the state's history are illustrated, and detailed captions offer family histories--including information about the family's hometown in Italy--and brief summaries of the individual's achievements. This accessible and colorful presentation will appeal to many who wish to remember the contributions of their ancestors.

Italian Americans made a significant contribution to Franklin D. Roosevelt's election to the White House in 1932 and to the victory of the Democratic Party in the four subsequent presidential contests. This volume offers a case study of their electoral behavior. Through a quantitative analysis of the Italian-American vote between 1916 and 1948, this study demonstrates that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the creation of a Democratic majority in the Little Italy of Providence foreran both Alfred Smith's 1928 candidacy for the presidency and the Depression of the 1930s. War II and underwent a revitalization in the postwar years. Political recognition and patronage were so central to Italian Americans' party choice that their support for the Democratic Party reached a climax when a member of the community, John Pastore, ran for governor on the Democratic ticket in the mid 1940s. Stefano Luconi teaches the History of North America at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Florence.