Genealogy Books - La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience

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Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: Captures the sentiment, but not always the facts
Comment: As a second and third generation Italian American and a scholar, I found the book warmed my heart
but saddened my soul. The following example is telling. The unwarranted praise for Columbus glosses
over his (mis)deeds from the first page. Yes, he wrote how "kind and trusting these people are" but
then wrote that those qualities would make them easy to enslave. (He does mention slavery later on,
but such "negative press" is glossed over. A fault throughout the book.) As for protecting the
people from sailors - all I can say is read Columbus's actual diary yourself. The book is unbalanced
and inaccurate in many areas, but I do not have the time to review all of those errors here,
although some are pointed out by other reviewers. This book will reinforce some biases held by many
Italian Americans, including most of my relatives (many of whom loved the book), perhaps dispel a
few held about Italian Americans by others, but it falls short - more by sins of omission and a lack
of dimension and complexity. I was sorely disappointed by that, even though the nostalgic sentiment
I felt as Mangione provided a framework for the stories of my grandparents, was appreciated, the
book did not do justice to its overly ambitious title.

Customer Rating:

Summary: I'm not Italian, bought this for someone else a long time ago
Comment: So before time to give it, I had time to read it. What a history!! This should be required reading
for EVERY person in America with Italian heritage! Learn, see what drove them here. Mostly concerned
with around turn of century, tells where they came in ( I love the history of Ellis Island) but
tells the awful conditions they were subjected to once here (most became the lowest in the pecking
order of society) and how pitiful the women were. Why the Mafia gained power in America. You won't
be sorry.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Review of La Storia
Comment: 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.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Outstanding...Meaningful in a very personal way...
Comment: 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.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Outstanding and well-researched
Comment: 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.

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