The Italian American Reader: A Moving and Poignant Collection of Classic and Contemporary Italian American Voices

by Bill Tonelli

This anthology -- the first general-reader collection of writing by Italian American authors -- is part manifesto, part Sunday dinner. A gathering of voices old and new, some speak in the accents of another age, some completely contemporary and assured, and all together for the first time. To stand with all the other popular media images we represent, now, at last, one exists in written form, the literature of Italian American life. Inside, there are excerpts from novels, memoirs, short stories, essays, and poems -- by the living and the dead, the famous and the obscure. The excerpts are variously moving, funny, poignant, lusty, biting, reverent, witty, loving, angry, and wise, dealing in the most profound aspects of our lives no matter who we home, love, sex, family, food, work, God, death. Characters range from gangsters to grandmas, lovers to fighters, thinkers to doers, sinners to saints, with special appearances by Frank Sinatra and the Virgin Mary.

Genres: Fiction

576 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1994

Reviews

[Heidi]

Came to this from searching for more of Michael Martone, stayed for the famous Italian-Americans.

[Walt]

Decent collection. Some far-out. Didn't care for the poetry selections.

[Jason]

I really liked this anthology. A wide variety of pieces about and by Italian-Americans. Worth a read, and several re-readings.