La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience

Rating:
Summary: Review of La Storia
Review: I thought the book was generally good. However, I thought the authors were more defensive about Ialians than they should have been. I do not think the book can be used as "history" because it is not objective enough. There are also errors in the book. For example Joe Montana played football for the San Fransisco 49ers, not the Giants. Giants are baseball. They left out Willie Mosconi, perhaps one of the best billiards players in the world. For a book, in my opinion, to be used effectively as history, it has to be objective and dispassionate. This is very unfortunate because the authors had a wonderful opportunity to really "lay it out there" and let the facts speak for themselves. Nonetheless, I have sent this book to at least five friends and family because it is good reading socially and not for professional academic use.

Rating:
Summary: Review of La Storia
Review: I thought the book was generally good. However, I thought the authors were more defensive about Ialians than they should have been. I do not think the book can be used as "history" because it is not objective enough. There are also errors in the book. For example Joe Montana played football for the San Fransisco 49ers, not the Giants. Giants are baseball. They left out Willie Mosconi, perhaps one of the best billiards players in the world. For a book, in my opinion, to be used effectively as history, it has to be objective and dispassionate. This is very unfortunate because the authors had a wonderful opportunity to really "lay it out there" and let the facts speak for themselves. Nonetheless, I have sent this book to at least five friends and family because it is good reading socially and not for professional academic use.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding and well-researched
Review: La Storia provides an excellent historical record, as well as an in-depth discussion of the social consequences faced by immigrant Italians and their children. It is OUTSTANDING reading not only for Italian Americans (especially those of Southern Italian descent), but also for those wishing to better understand an often marginalized group of people who have contributed to this country in fascinating and tremendous ways. I have given this book as a gift to several friends.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding...Meaningful in a very personal way...
Review: What a great book! It chanced to catch my eye in recently and I've found it hard to put down.

This book eloquently ties together the *entire* experience of the Sicilian immigrant before, during and after their arrival. Although it is light on the parallel history of Sicily (Sammartino's Sicily is an EZ read) the focus on the American aspect makes it that much more unique.

Yet, there is excellent treatment of what the hollow term "Italian" meant to a peasant from Sicily - not much. Once they came to the US, they were effectively lumped together with everyone from what had only recently been joined (and by force at that) into a nation. The authors also provide context to the socio-economic misery effectively inflicted upon the southern regions to the direct and exclusive benefit of northern regions.

Also demystified is the pervasive myth of the Mafia, originally perpetuated by northern Italians as reasons why their welcome in the South quickly wore out - the Sicilians were regularly maligned as genetically inferior, lazy, unintelligent and all part of the Mafia. With the constant perpetuation of the "secret-society" angle - it's has all the chracteristics of a great meme. The roots are detailed including how and who profited from this wicked myth including: opportunistic northernern Italians, sensationalist meida, ignorant Americans and isolated criminals interested in making themselves bigger than life.

It's a bitter irony that so many southern Italians immigrants and their descendants became successful in America while their own homeland refused to give then any opportunity. Armed with the facts, Italians and Italian-Americans have a chance to separate the fact from fiction.

I'm a 3rd generation (Sicilian-Calabrese) American originally from Chicago, and the book rang true again and again. My experiences, the stories that I'd heard from family and friends, the make-up of the neighborhood I grew up in and how the media often portrays Italians.

I recommend this book for all Italians, Italian-Americans and especially those of southern Italian descent. I'd even recommend this book to people that have friends and family that are Italian or have any interest in the culture.

Bravissimo to the authors for writing a detailed, well researched treatise on what for many of us has been unwritten until now.