Required Reading for Italian-Americans...

Sicilian Culture: News & Views

Sons of Italy Book Club
By Howard Rosenberg, Los Angeles Times

I VERY HIGHLY commend the Sons of Italy for THIS Book Club Effort.

I however, must express GRAVE disappointment at The Sons of Italy selection of one of the books, since it's Editor Bill Tonelli, is not merely NOT a supporter of Anti- Italian American Defamation efforts, but launches frequent, persistent, vociferous, vituperative, virulent, attacks on Italian American "activists", which includes members of the Commission of Social Justice (CSJ), an "arm" of the Sons of Italy.

Such a "gaffe" is disheartening, and a slap in the face of ALL Italian American "activists".

What next, a David Chase (DeCesare) book???

SONS OF ITALY LAUNCHES BOOK CLUB

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2003 - The Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA), the biggest and oldest national organization for men and women of Italian heritage in the United States, has announced the creation of the Sons of Italy Book Club dedicated to the works of Italian American writers who focus on Italian American issues, themes and history.

The Sons of Italy Book Club was launched during the Sons of Italy literary conference, "From the Boat to the Book," in Washington, D.C., Mar. 21. The conference featured best-selling Italian American authors who explored new trends and old stereotypes in Italian American literature.

On the panel were Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and authors Lorenzo Carcaterra, Paul Paolicelli, and Andriana Trigiani. Moderating was Washingtonian Magazine editor-at-large Chuck Conconi.

For the book club, the Sons of Italy will choose three to four fiction and non-fiction books each quarter for a total of 12 to 16 titles a year. The selections will be posted on the Sons of Italy Web site (www.osia.org) and published in the Sons of Italy magazine, Italian America, the most widely read cultural publication for Italian Americans in the United States. The Sons of Italy encourages its 745 chapters around the country to choose one or more of the books each quarter and use part of their monthly meeting time to discuss it.

Three of the first four selections are:

"Under the Southern Sun" by Paul Paolicelli (St. Martin's Press; $24.95; hard)
"Big Stone Gap" by Adriana Trigiani (Ballantine Books; $12.95; paperback)
"Street Boys" by Lorenzo Carcaterra (Ballantine Books; $25.95; hardcover)
The fourth book, I REFUSE to mention.

"Under the Southern Sun" is a non-fiction work that reveals the southern Italian values brought here by the early immigrants that help shape today's Italian Americans.

The novel, "Big Stone Gap" centers around Ave Maria Mulligan, an Italian American woman in a Virginia mining town in the 1970s, who discovers a family secret about her Italian roots.

"Street Boys" is a fictionalized version of a true episode during World War II when the people of Naples, including the street urchins or scugnizzi, drove the Nazis out of their city.

"If the Sons of Italy lodges respond and support this book club," says "Street Boys" author Lorenzo Carcaterra, "the New York publishing industry will take notice and publish more books about the Italian American experience. If they don't, it will confirm the prevalent theory in the publishing world that Italian Americans don't read and don't buy books."

Carcaterra, the best-selling author of "Sleepers" and other major works, has distinguished himself as a writer for more than 20 years in fiction, non-fiction, television and film. In 1995, "Sleepers" catapulted him to national attention when it was made into a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt, Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman, among others. The book has sold more than 1.1 million copies here and abroad.

The Sons of Italy literary conference was followed by a book-signing of the authors' works, sponsored by Olsson's Book Store, and a private luncheon for the panelists, journalists and special guests, including members of the Library of Congress, academia and the Italian diplomatic corps. Later, the panelists held a workshop for young Italian Americans interested in writing careers as part of OSIA's new Career Connections program.

Established in 1905, OSIA has more than 600,000 members and supporters and a network of 745 chapters coast to coast. OSIA works at the community, national and international level to promote the heritage and culture of an estimated 26 million Italian Americans, the nation's fifth largest ethnic group, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For more information on OSIA, visit www.osia.org or email nationalofficec@osia.org.

Press Contact: Diane Crespy
202.547.8115
dcrespy@osia.org

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