The Lost World of Italian-american Radicalism: Politics, Labor, and Culture

by Cannistraro, Philip

• ISBN13: 9780275978921
• ISBN10: 0275978923
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-12-30
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

Radicalism had a powerful but largely unacknowledged influence in the Italian-American community. This study brings together 16 selections that restore to Italian-American history the radical experience that has long remained suppressed, but that nevertheless helped shape both the Italian-American community and the American left. The detailed introduction by the volume editors interprets the overall history of Italian-American radicalism and offers extensive bibliographical references on the topic, which the volume editors organize into three sections: labor, politics, and culture. A concluding selection relates the radicalism of Italian Americans to that in other Italian immigrant communities. In the section on labor, Rudolph Vecoli, among others, traces the rise and decline of radicalism within the Italian-American working class, and Jennifer Guglielmo breaks new ground in uncovering the involvement of Italian American women in the radical movements. In politics, Paul Avrich unveils the violent reaction of anarchists in the United States to the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, and Jackie DiSalvo identifies Father James Groppi as the most important white leader in the Civil Rights movement. On culture, Julia Lisella, Mary Jo Bono, and Edvige Guinta present pioneering interpretive studies on the work of Italian-American women in literature.

Author Biography

PHILIP CANNISTRARO is Distinguished Professor of Italian American Studies at Queens College and the Graduate School, City University of New York. He is the author of Blackshirts in Little Italy and the coauthor of The Western Perspective: A History of Civilization in the West.GERALD MEYER is Professor Emeritus of History at Hostos Community College, City University of New York, and the author of Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician, 1902-1954.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Spencer M. Di Scala
Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: Italian American Radicalism: An Interpretive History	1	(50)
Philip V. Cannistraro
Gerald Meyer
Part I: Labor
The Making and Un-Making of the Italian American Working Class	51	(26)
Rudolph J. Vecoli
War among the Italian Anarchists: The Galleanisti's Campaign against Carlo Tresca	77	(22)
Nunzio Pernicone
Italian Workers on the Waterfront: The New York Harbor Strikes of 1907 and 1919	99	(14)
Calvin Winslow
Donne Ribelli: Recovering the History of Italian Women's Radicalism in the United States	113	(30)
Jennifer Guglielmo
From Working-Class Radicalism to Cold War Anti-Communism: The Case of the Italian Locals of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union	143	(20)
Charles A. Zappia
Part II: Politics
Sacco and Vanzetti's Revenge	163	(8)
Paul Avrich
No God, No Master: Italian Anarchists and the Industrial Workers of the World	171	(18)
Salvatore Salerno
Italian Radicals and Union Activists in San Francisco, 1900--1920	189	(16)
Paola A. Sensi-Isolani
Italian Americans and the American Communist Party	205	(24)
Gerald Meyer
Father James E. Groppi (1930--1985): The Militant Humility of a Civil Rights Activist	229	(16)
Jackie DiSalvo
Mario Savio: Resurrecting an Italian American Radical	245	(8)
Gil Fagiani
Part III: Culture
The Radical World of Ybor City, Florida	253	(12)
Gary R. Mormino
George E. Pozzetta
Follow the Red Brick Road: Recovering Radical Traditions of Italian American Writers	265	(8)
Fred Gardaphe
Behind the Mask: Signs of Radicalism in the Work of Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni	273	(14)
Julia Lisella
Rooted to Family: Italian American Women's Radical Novels	287	(14)
Mary Jo Bona
Where They Come From: Italian American Women Writers As Public Intellectuals	301	(12)
Edvige Giunta
Conclusion: Lost and Found: Italian American Radicalism in Global Perspective	313	(10)
Donna R. Gabaccia
About the Editors and Contributors	323	(4)
Index	327