Sunday, June 03, 2007

"The Boston Italians: A Story of Pride, Perseverance and Paesani," Rises to # 8 on Boston's Best Sellers

The ANNOTICO Report

 

While those who say Italians don't read, Puleo sees a " real pent-up demand "

 

My comment has always been, if you give Italians a book that is "uplifting" they will buy. If it's a book that will engender shame, of course they will not buy. That's NOT Rocket Science!!!!!!

 

 

A FEAST OF ITALIAN HISTORY:

Weymouth author’s chronicle of the Boston Italians rising on best-seller list

By Dana Barbuto
The Patriot Ledger SouthBoston,MA                                                                                                                                                             Sunday.June 3, 2007

After hearing Weymouth author Stephen Puleo talk about his new book, The Boston Italians: A Story of Pride, Perseverance and Paesani, Grace Lawson said she wished she were Italian.

I like their zest for life, food and family ties, said Lawson of Bridgewater, whos Irish.

Lawson and about 30 others went to a recent book talk and signing at Di Neros restaurant in Cohasset, where they were served a lively dose of Italian history with their chicken parmesan.

Released on May 11, the book is at No. 8 on the Patriot Ledgers local best-sellers list. Calling it very exciting, Puleo, 52, said theres some real pent-up demand and momentum for this book, which is great to see.     ...

Those in the audience at Di Neros said they are drawn to the book because it feels familiar.

Cathy Coccimiglio of Hull told Puleo how her grandmother made the voyage from Calabria to the United States on a cattle boat to marry her best friends brother. Later, her family lived in a three-decker in Dorchester, with family members on every floor.

I feel like my family is right here, she said clutching the book.

Donna and Joe Zaccheo of Quincy told Puleo how their families might have grown up near each other.

Im always being asked, Are we related? Puleo said, laughing.

Thats because in a shared-history-overcome-adversity sort of way, all Italians are related, Puleo said.

And thats what Puleo captures in his book - the spirit of proud, hard-working people who rallied around each other to make a better life.

Its not a story of victimhood or failure. They didnt succumb, they overcame, Puleo said.

Puleo was born in Everett, grew up in Burlington and later moved to Weymouth with his wife. He has published two other books - Due to Enemy Action, about the last American warship sunk by a U-boat in World War II, and Dark Tide, an account of the 1919 molasses flood in Bostons North End.

As you flip the pages of The Boston Italians, you can practically smell the sauce simmering on the stove. Its not a dull history lesson but a narrative underdog tale of what Puleo calls the real story of those early southern Italian immigrants.

Its a true American success story and at its root and core it is the epitome of the American dream, he said.

Once the most hated immigrant group, southern Italians - many of them unskilled, illiterate and with pennies in their pockets - arrived during the great immigration wave between 1880 and 1 920. Puleos own grandparents were part of this migration. One grandfather ended up a cobbler; the other pedaled fruit from a pushcart.

They came to America to change their way of life, Puleo said.

Italian immigrants went from peasant villages to crowded, cramped tenements in the North End, where each street represented a different region of Italy: Sicilians on North Street, those from Abruzzo on Endicott Street.

It was a big deal if you wanted to move from Prince Street to North Street - and thats only about a five-minute walk, Puleo said.

Italians were comfortably isolated in their 800,000-square-foot enclave in the city, shielded by the expressway.

The North End became the center of Italian cultural life with its feasts and social clubs. It was a big deal to move away, Puleo said.

The Puleo family created a stir when they decided to head to Burlington.

Wheres Burlington? Will we ever see you agai n? was the reaction we got, Puleo said to a laughing audience.

Aiming to move beyond stereotypes, Puleo cites the 1972 release of The Godfather as an important moment in Italian history. Though the movie is one of his favorites, it forever stamped popular culture with the image of the Italian-American as a gangster.

Thats only part of the story. Its fact and we cant deny it. ... The problem becomes when that is the predominant image of Italian-Americans.

Puleo remembers a friend asking him what he was working on.

I responded, A book about Italians. Oh, so its about the mob? my friend said.

Another time, Puleo was in a business strategy meeting - he does corporate communications and marketing - discussing a competitor.

The vice president says to everyone, Maybe we can get one of Puleos relatives to take out a contract on him. Puleo said. Afterward I told him not to make those references.

Puleo said he looks forward to sharing the stories of what he calls the most successful immigrant group at upcoming book events.

Were the children of hundreds of thousands of Italians whose genius has shaped the Western world, Puleo said, But were also the children of the Anthony Puleos who overcame so much adversity.

Dana Barbuto may be reached at dbarbuto@ledger.com .

http://www.patriotledger.com/articles/2007/05/30/life/life01.txt

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