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BOOKS, WITH A FOCUS ON
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UPDATED February, 2, 2003
Click on the titles for more info
| "Growing Up and Growing Old in Italian-American Families"...Colleen Leahy Johnson, |
| Speaking of Slavery: Color, Ethnicity, and Human Bondage in Italy (Conjunctions of Religion and Power in the Medieval Past)...by Steven A. Epstein |
| "Baroque Naples : A Documentary History, 1600-1800"...edited by Jeanne Chenault Porter...ISBN0934977526 |
| Don't Tell Mama; The Penguin Book of Italian American Writing...edited by Regina Barreca... A compilation of well known and new writers. |
| The Madonna of 115th Street, Faith and Community in Italian Harlem 1880-1950...by Robert Anthony Orsi...Yale University Press 1985 |
| The Exultet in Southern Italy...by Thomas Forrest Kelly |
| The Black Madonna...by Louisa Ermelino...Delightful read. This book should be made into a movie. |
| Darkest Italy, The Nation and Stereotypes of the Mezzogiorno, 1860-1900...by John Dickie...First entry is on the civil war and social unrest in the south following the annexation by northern Italy |
| Gesture in Naples and Gesture in Classical Antiquity...by Andrea de Jorio...Written by a Neapolitan cleric,scholar. First published in 1832. Gesture is almost a language of its own. You will recognize many as they exist today. The variation and nuances are covered in depth. De Jorio says that his study only covers Naples and that other southern regions have their own variations . |
| Saint Thomas Aquinas, "The Dumb Ox"...by G.K. Chesterton, Image Book Editions, 2001...Contains a biography of the life of the venerable Neapolitan Saint who reconcilied Christianity with Aristotlean reason. |
| Saints In The Lives Of Italian-Americans: An Interdisciplinary Investigation...Co-Edited by Joseph A. Varacalli, Salvatore Primeggia, Salvatore J. LaGumina, Donald J. D'Elia...Forum Italicum, Stony Brook, New York, 1999 |
| What Zizi Gave Honeyboy: A True Story About Love, Wisdom, And The Soul Of America...by Gerald Celente...Harper Collins, New York, 2002 |
| Red Figure Vases Of South Italy And Sicily...by A.D. Trendall...Thames And Hudson, New York, 1989 |
| South Italian Festivals: A Local History Of Ritual And Change...by Herman Tak...Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2000 |
| Growing Up Italian In God's Country: Stories From The Wilds Of Pennsylvania...by Patricia Costa Viglucci...Stone Pine Books, Patri Publishing, Rochester, New York, 2001 |
| Pick and Shovel Poet: The Journeys of Pascal D'Angelo...by Jim Murphy...Clarion Books, New York, 2000 |
| The Greeks Overseas: Their Early Colonies and Trade...by John Boardman...Thames and Hudson NY...Tells the story of the Greeks in southern Italy and Sicily through a study of artifacts. |
| La Merica : Images of the Italian Greenhorn Experience...by Michael A. La Sorte...Temple University Press, Philadelphia...Michael La Sorte uses the personal writings of a number of southern Italian immigrants to describe the often difficult conditions which our ancestors faced in their journey and eventual settlement. To read the grueling details of the passenger ships, the overcrowded and shabby housing, and the near slave-like work that the immigrants endured can be depressing, but it gives a greater appreciation of the mettle of those folks. We can be both proud and grateful to them. |
| Studies in Italian American Folklore...edited by Luisa Del Giudice...ISBN 0-87421-171-9...Utah State University Press...Recommend the chapter by Ann Chairetakis "Tears of Blood", a study of the villanella folk singing style of the southern Italian mountain areas. The chapter by Joseph Sciorra tells the story of the shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Rosebank section of Staten Island NY. The "driving force" behind the building of this shrine was Vito Russo who was born in Sala Consilina which is a neighboring town to Sassano. |
| La Storia Proibita...by Carmine Colacino, Alfonso Grasso, Andrea Moletta, Antonio Pagano, Giuseppe Ressa, Alessandra Romano, Maria Russo, Marina Salvadore, Maria Sarcinelli...forward by Nicola Zitara...Go here to read the forward |
| South Italian Folkways in Europe and America: A handbook for social workers, visiting nurses, school teachers, and physicians...by Phyllis H Williams...Out of print, but available through your local library or as an interlibrary loan. The first chapter contains a very fair assessment of the conditions that spurred the exodus of the contadini. GO HERE to read the first chapter entitled "The Homeland". |
| Stone Shelters...by Edward Allen...ISBN0-262-51010-3...Contains a short history of Apulia along with many drawings, photos and descriptions of the old fieldstone dwellings of the region. Also contains an interesting historical overview of the province. |
| Health And Medicine In Early Medieval Southern Italy...by Patricia Skinner...ISBN 90 04 103945 Brill, 1997...A scholarly study from original sources. |
| Vocabulario del Dialetto di Palo del Colle by Giovanni Colasuonno and Vittorio De Palo... Levante Editori, Bari ISBN88-7949-122-9... In Italian. Contains a glossary of the dialect words of Palo del Colle and also many photos. |
| The New History Of the Italian South: The Mezzogiorno Revisited...Edited by Robert Lumley and Jonathan Morris...ISBN 0-85989-506-8 |
| Violence
and Great Estates in the South Of Italy 1900-1920...by
Frank Snowden ISBN-0521307317...Little known history of the Apulian
peasant labor organization. Detailed information on the economic conditions
in Apulia, the area containing Palo Del Colle
Go HERE for my review of this important book |
| Primitive
Rebels...by E.J. Hobsbawm ISBN 393003280
This book is a study of the forms of banditry which the author describes as "...a primitive form of social protest." The first chapter focuses on banditry ,or brigandage, which existed in 19th century southern Italy. Hosbawm, from p.21: "In their more primitive way the Southern brigands of the 1860's, like those of1799-1815 , saw themselves as the people's champions against the gentry and the 'foreigners'. Perhaps Southern Italy in these periods provides the nearest thing to a mass revolution and a war of liberation led by social bandits. [Not for nothing has 'bandit' become a habitual term foreign governments use to describe revolutionary guerillas.] Thanks to a large scholarly literature the nature of these epochs of brigandage is now well understood, and few students now share the incomprehension of middle-class Liberals who saw in them nothing but 'mass delinquency' ,and barbarism if not Southern racial inferiority, an incomprehension which is still found in Norman Douglas' OLD CALABRIA. And Carlo Levi, among others, has reminded us in CHRIST STOPPED AT EBOLI how profound the memory of the bandit-heroes is among the Southern peasants, for whom the 'years of the brigands' are among the few parts of history which are alive and real, because, unlike the kings and wars, they belong to them. In their way the brigands ,dressed in torn peasant costume with Bourbon rosettes, or in more gorgeous apparel, were avengers and champions of the people. If their way was a blind alley, let us not deny them the longing for liberty and justice which moved them." |
| Far From The Church Bells:Settlement and Society in An Apulian Town...by Anthony H. Galt ISBN: 0521394449 ...A study of peasant society in the comune of Locorotondo. |
| Brigand Life in Italy: A History of Bourbonist Reaction...edited from original & authentic documents Count Maffei ...Hurst & Blackett/London, 1865 ...Volumes I and II |
| Old Calabria...by Norman Douglas...ISBN 0810160226... Go here to read a humorous encounter with a group of contadini somewhere in Apulia |
| The
Moral Basis of a Backward Society...by Edward C. Banfield
ISBN 0029015200
Comments on this book from a note found on the bottom of page 75 of LA STORIA "Michael Parenti protested that Banfield "got a grant and he went to Italy. He found people there were poor. They kind of just oriented themselves to their families. He said these people were morally backward because, in fact they don't act like middle-class suburbanites" (Power and Class, AIHA). Still ,Banfield's opinions found favor in some segments of academia." |
| Padre Pio..The True Story...by C. Bernard Ruffin...ISBN 0879736739 |
| The World 100 years ago...Southern Italy...by Burton Holmes...ISBN 0-7910-4672-9... Author gives his eyewitness account of the Vesuvius eruption of April ,8,1906.Many pictures of the Naples area. |
| The
Women of the Shadows...Wives and Mothers of Southern Italy...by
Ann Cornelisen
...ISBN 1-58642-016-X...Steerforth Italia Press.. |
| Torregreca...Life, Death, Miraclesby Ann Cornelisen...out of print...Dismal portrait of a Lucanian town.It must be understood that the author was a social worker who dealt with people unfortunate enough to need help. The author cannot conceal her contempt for the men or the upper classes of the area. |
| Italian
Genealogical Records...How to use Italian Civil, Ecclesiastical,& Other
Records in Family History Research ... by Trafford
R. Cole...
ISBN: 0916489582 ...A primary source for information on researching the Italian records |
| Unknown Italy...Southern Italy.....by George Pillement...Contains an architectural description of the 12th century Chiese Matrice in Palo del Colle |
| The Normans...by Trevor Rowley...Tempus Publishing Inc....ISBN0752414348 |
| Before the Normans..Southern Italy in the 9th and10th Centuries by Barbara M. Kreutz University of Pennsylvania Press1991 ISBN 0-8122-1587-7 |
| ItalianAmerican Folklore.Proverbs,Songs,Games,Folktales,Foodways, Superstitions,Folk Remedies,and More ...by Frances M. Malpezzi and William M. Clements... August House,Inc.1992 ISBN 0-87483-278-0 |
| Christ Stopped at Eboli ...by Carlo Levi ... The Noonday Press 1998... ISBN 0-374-540316-8 Good description of peasant beliefs and culture in pre-WWII region of southern Italy neighboring the Sassano area |
| La
Storia Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience
...by Jerre Mangione & Ben Morreale ...Harper Perennial 1993...
ISBN 0-06-092441-1
Explains situation in pre-unification southern Italy. GO HERE for a review |
| Discovering Your Italian Ancestors ...by Lynn Nelson... Betterway Books ISBN1-55870-426-4 The handbook I use to interpret the Stato Civile during my genealogical research...Excellent source. |
| Italian
Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino
Pantheon Book,NY
ISBN 0-394-74909-X |
| Our
Italian Surnames ...by John G. Fucilla...
Genealogical Publishing Co Inc.
ISBN 0-8063-1187-8 A generic guide to surnames focusing on Northern Italy , but still useful. |
| Ramage
in South Italy ...by Crauford Tait Ramage ...
ISBN0-089733-216-4
An outsiders view of the south. Many Englishman , being greco-philes , made the obligatory tour of the cities of Magna Grecia in the 19th century. Contains colorful descriptions. Recommended |
| Frederick II 'A Medievial Emperor' by David Abulafia ISBN 0-19-508040-8 |
| Sicilian
Rebel: Being the personal narrative of S.V. Ravi', a Capuchin monk and Roman
priest, born in a mountain village of Sicily, who left the Roman Church, was
excommunicated by the Pope, became an eloquent orator at the climax of the
Italian Risorgimento, founded the Methodist Church in Rome, and was buried
in a mountain village in Vermont...Edited by Robert R.R.
Brooks...ISBN
0-915466-02-3
Yes, that's the title. Interesting first-person account of Sicilian monastery life. The author S.V. Ravi' was a Sicilian priest who questioned the authority of the Roman church from an early age. He was forced by his family to enter a Capuchin monastery because of his family connections in the church and his high intelligence. It is hard to say if he gives an unbiased account, but, he has many negative things to say about most members of the hierarchy of the RC church of that period. Ravi' was also a sympathizer of the Giovani Italia movement which also had Mazzini and Garibaldi as members. Ravi''s older brother ,a follower of Garibaldi, was killed at the battle of Volturno. Part of Ravi's problem was with his raging male hormones. Although a man of God he was also a man. In my opinion a celibate priesthood is not a good thing for any particular race. The priesthood and brotherhoods siphoned off many of the most intelligent and promising males, who thus never had a chance to contribute their genes to future generations. Along with this Ravi' had an inquisitive mind which did not allow for an easy acceptance of dogma. A good account of his travels in Italy are given along with the situation of the clergy as regards their sympathies for and against the RC Church and the Bourbon rulers. |
| By the Ionian Sea Notes of a Ramble in Southern Italy...by George Gissing The Marlboro Press..ISBN 0-8101-6010-2... Another outsiders tour of Magna Grecia. Expect the usual prejudices. |
| Italy's
"Southern Question" Orientalism In One Country
...edited by Jane Schneider Berg, Oxford U.K.,and New York
ISBN1-85973-997-0
Explores the role of the south's' intellectuals in formulating the "Southern Question". |
| I Carabinieri E Il Brigantaggio Nell 'Italia Meridionale (1861-1870)...by Pompeo Di Terlizzi... ISBN 88-7949-156-3 |
| The Cult of the Black Virgin ...by Ean Begg ... ISBN 0-14-019510-6 |
| War in Italy
1943-1945 A Brutal Story ... by Richard Lamb ... Da
Capo Press1996
ISBN 0-306-80688-6 |
| Mount
Allegro ... A Memoir of an Italian American Life ...
by Jerre Mangione
Syracuse University Press ... ISBN 0-8156-0429-7...A memoir of a Sicilian-American childhood. |
| Few
Returned 28 days on the Russian Front 1942-1943 ...by
Eugenio Corti
University of Missouri Press 1997... ISBN 0-8262-1115-1 ... Italian contribution to the anti-Bolshevik crusade in the East. |
| A Thousand Years in Sicily...From the Arabs to the Bourbons...by Giuseppe Quatriglio ISBN 0-921252-17-X... alternate source Click Here |
| Rebel
and Mafiosi...Death in a Sicilian Landscape ...by James
Fentress
Cornell University Press... ISBN 0-8014-3539-0 |
| Sicily:
The Trampled Paradise...by Connie Mandracchia DeCaro
ISBN 1-881901-15-7 ... alternate source Click Here |
| I Saraceni E La Puglia Nel Secolo Decimo...by Antonio Papagna... Levante Editori |
| Note Storiche Su Bari...by Vito Antonio Melchiorre...ISBN 88-7949-262-4 |
| The
Norman Kingdom of Sicilyby Donald Matthews
Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-26911-3 |
| The Bourbons of Naples:(1734-1825)...by Harold Acton |
| Insight Guide: Southern Italy...by Robert Williams, editor...ISBN 1585730815...Beautiful pictures and detailed articles. |
| Travels With A Medieval Queen...by Mary Taylor Simeti...ISBN 0859895068... |
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