William Giovinazzo

This needs to be read by every Italian, especially Italian-Americans. It is significant in that it provides excellent insight into life in Italy prior to the modern era, the Italy in which many Italian-American's forbears came. When you go to Italy today, you see Italy after its post-WWII reconstruction. You do not get a real sense of what Italy was like prior to the war. This book provides that, provides insights into the poverty and the challenges faced by the contadini, the conditions that drove so many Italian to immigrate to the Americas.