It is little known that Italian Americans had been interned, evacuated and otherwise restricted during World War II. In California, Italian resident aliens were subjected to an 8PM to 6AM curfew, there were searches of their homes and seizure of their property, and there was an evacuation of thousands from prohibited zones along the coast.

Italian influence can be seen everywhere in America—in its buildings and its books, in its culture and its cuisine. Passage to Liberty tells the story of how Italians became Americans and fulfilled their dreams of rebuilding the image of Rome in their new country. Readers will discover:

- Removable reproductions of memorabilia and documents - Engaging illustrations - Informative text - And more!

When Italian immigrants landed on American shores they were outsiders: dark in complexion, culturally different, and unable to speak English. Over time the vibrant community assimilated and moved from being ethnically suspect to being racially privileged as America divided into black and white.

This newly designed collection of adventures in Italy takes the reader to a land of magical extremes — of ancient verities and modern vitality. Sculptors, olive harvesters, art historians, and cooks people these tales, and their stories are as evocative as opera. The book simmers with romance, culture — and the best food on earth. Authors include Tim Parks, Patricia Hampl, Mary Taylor Simeti, Luigi Barzini, Gary Paul Nabhan, and many others. “Travel writing at its glorious best.” — Chicago Tribune

The editors who brought us Unsettling America and Identity Lessons have compiled a short- story anthology that focuses on themes of racial and ethnic assimilation. With humor, passion, and grace, the contributors lay bare poignant attempts at conformity and the alienation sometimes experienced by ethnic Americans. But they also tell of the strength gained through the preservation of their communities, and the realization that it was often their difference from the norm that helped them to succeed.

In the first major critical reading of Italian American narrative literature in two decades, Fred L. Gardaphé presents an interpretive overview of Italian American literary history. Examining works from the turn of the twentieth century to the present, he develops a new perspective—variously historical, philosophical, and cultural—by which American writers of Italian descent can be read, increasing the discursive power of an ethnic literature that has received too little serious critical attention.