From Paesani to White Ethnics: The Italian Experience in Philadelphia / Edition 1

by Stefano Luconi

Overview

Examines the transformations of Italian American ethnic identity in twentieth-century Philadelphia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780791448588
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	02/01/2001
Series:	SUNY series in Italian/American Culture
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	274
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Stefano Luconi is Adjunct Professor of History of North America at the University of Florence, Italy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

1. Introduction: Ethnicity as a Social Construction and the Case of Italian Americans

2. The Transposition of Subnational Identities

3. The Development of a National Identity

4, Italianness in the Depression Years

5. The Impact of World War II and Its Aftermath

6. From Italian Americans to White Ethnics

7. Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

"This is the first major study of an Italian American community across the entire twentieth century and it challenges a number of perceptions held by the public and scholars. Luconi's thesis about the evolution of Italian American identity is focused and crisply presented, and his research is first-rate." — Philip V. Cannistraro, Queens College, The City University of New York

"Stefano Luconi delivers a compelling study of twentieth-century identity and politics. Focusing on key historical moments, Luconi traces political and personal enactments of race relations. His incisive investigation of the mayoral tenure and many campaigns of Police Commissioner Frank L. Rizzo during the 1970s and '80s is especially astute." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Stefano Luconi delivers a compelling study of 20th-century identity politics in From Paesani to White Ethnics: The Italian Experience in Philadelphia. Focusing on key historical moments ("World War I... offered... Italians and Italian Americans... a chance to construct some sense of their common... identity"), Luconi traces political and personal enactments of race relations. His incisive investigation of the mayoral tenure and many campaigns of Police Commissioner Frank L. Rizzo during the 1970s and '80s is especially astute: initially the recipient of "trans-ethnic white support" due to those constituents' "dislike of racial conflict," Mayor Rizzo, he finds, fueled racial animosity by catering to white Philadelphians. ( Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Analyzes the process by which people of Italian descent renegotiated their sense of community and ethnic self-perception in Philadelphia from the late nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth. Luconi (history, U. of Florence) describes the time-driven progression of immigrants' comradeship with only those from common Italian regions to increased feelings of solidarity with all Italians, and explores the effects of the civil rights movements, the effects of which climaxed in extreme polarization during the time of Frank Rizzo's mayoral campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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