It would make the IDEAL GIFT !!!! for Teens (and Adults) who value their 
heritage, but are not sure why. 

With adjacent Italian Translation, it also enriches your Italian Language 
skills.

It makes possible a wonderful Family Quiz Game. 

The book for Italians and those who wish they were! 

"HERITAGE Italian-American Style" is now available in a bilingual format. 
This revised second edition has now been expanded from 1492 to 1776 
fact-filled questions that highlight the endless contributions made by 
Italians and Italian-Americans to western civilization. The research within 
these pages encompasses every aspect of innovative genius achieved by the 
Italian people throughout recorded history in a wide-range of categories. 
This highly entertaining compendium is comprehensive, easy to read, and fully 
indexed with more than 2,700 entries. 

>From Julius Caesar to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, from Galileo to Sinatra - who 
says education can't be fun? This book will give you a greater awareness and 
a deeper appreciation of the vast contributions made over the last three 
thousand years by Italians from the Great Roman Empire, through the Middle 
Ages and the Renaissance, and right up through today.

>From Chariots to Ferraris - If you have Italian ancestors, you will glow with 
pride at your own long heritage of art, science, music, literature, history, 
and food. If you don't you will be searching through your family tree, trying 
to find at least one Italian so you can claim some of the genius that their 
history provides!

"HERITAGE Italian-American Style" also contains six major Internet address 
directories featuring information on everything Italian from genealogy to 
travel, organizations to magazines and newspapers. This section is a 
wonderful information resource for the Italian-American community across the 
United States and Canada.

This Softcover book contains 477 pages and retails for $19.95.
   
You are all invited to preview the book at: www.italianheritage.net 

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Notes by the Author:
Confessions of an Italophile
by Leon J. Radomile

    I freely admit, without any reservations, that I am in love. I love my 
wife and my two daughters. I love my family, country and religion. I love my 
home and friends. Finally, I love my Italian heritage and the culture that 
has spawned so many heroic and gifted figures through three millennia. Even 
in my earliest recollections, I can honestly say there was never a time I was 
not proud of my Italian ancestry.

    Many would say that my love and passion for Italian culture comes from 
years of Italian family influences. I wish that were true. At an early age my 
parents and I, an only child, moved from our home and family in Philadelphia 
for a new life in the suburbs of San Francisco. The only spoken Italian I 
heard was when my parents entertained Italian guests in our home. There were 
no grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, or any extended family members to 
draw from. Even my name did not sound very Italian when pronounced in an 
anglicized form. And yet from my early teens, I always knew who I was and 
confident in that knowledge. I was always proud of my first generation 
Italian heritage. 

That pride did not come from anything I did personally, but rather from my 
innate feelings of being Italian. Sometimes, as a high school or college 
student, I would often sit down and randomly choose a volume of an 
encyclopedia and read about Italian historical figures or events. I can only 
describe this urge as a hunger that seemed only to be satisfied with things 
Italian. Through the years, I collected tidbits of Italian cultural facts 
simply because they fascinated me and because I truly love history-especially 
anything connected with Italy. Some would say that I was a trivia buff, a 
label I really found distasteful when used in conjunction with Italy. There 
is absolutely nothing trivial about the essence of Italian genius.

Over the years, I always felt offended by those who would dismiss or 
trivialize Italian culture. Such ignorance was beyond my comprehension. In 
1985, I finally realized why, in spite of all the upstanding Italian 
descendants in this country, Italians and Italian Americans were so commonly 
portrayed in less than flattering terms. The answer lay at the feet of the 
media-from advertising to movies to television, and even cartoons. Even the 
revered term of godfather was perverted by author Mario Puzzo to describe 
Italian criminal lords. Years later, he would admit that it was something he 
simply made up.
   
Living on the west coast has many advantages, but we do suffer from one major 
shortcoming. That shortcoming is brilliantly illustrated in our ethnic 
blandness. Perhaps if I had grown-up on the east coast, the realization of 
Italian cultural bashing would have revealed itself to me much sooner. But 
when dim-witted radio or television commercials and programming began to fill 
the airwaves during the 70's and 80's, I finally began to wake-up. When I 
objected, I was accused of being too thin-skinned, or lacking in a sense of 
humor. I am neither thin-skinned nor humorless. But enough was enough.

One day, in 1985, I made a conscious decision to do something about this 
cultural bashing of Italiana, other that just talking about it. I would try 
to do something positive to reverse this continual trivialization of Italian 
culture-something manifested through an educational approach.  I had observed 
how far the African American and Jewish communities had come in educating 
American society. Just look at the shelves in bookstores and libraries as 
proof. Jewish and African-American titles abound, Italian related titles, on 
the other hand, seem to be relegated to the wine and cookbook sections. In 
order to gain attention to my cause, I needed to do something that would be 
entertaining as well as informative.
 
My course of action was set when I came upon an idea for a game. I proceeded 
to develop a board game I called The Italian Heritage Game, based on the 
popular model of Trivial Pursuit. Though I sold almost 10,000 board games 
throughout the country to enthusiastic purchasers, I felt betrayed by a lack 
of overall support from the very people I was trying to help. In 1990, having 
exhausted my own funds and monies invested from local Italian-American 
supporters, I closed the game company I had started to promote and sell the 
board game. Someplace in my heart, though, I kept alive the hope that someday 
this game would be resurrected. 

Almost ten years would pass until I came up with the idea to turn the old 
board game into book form. Dear God I thought, if only I had thought of the 
more practical book format back in the 1980's.
 
In the summer of 1999, from June 1st to August 30th, I was a person 
possessed. I was determined to rewrite the entire board game material into 
book form, adding new and updated material. The result was 228 pages, 
containing 1492 facts, in an entertaining question and answer format. The 
material covered five major categories: Food, Music, Entertainment; Art, 
Science, Literature; History, Geography, Business; Sports and Romans.
  
It was time to learn how to publish and market my new book. Four months 
later, in December 1999, the book, entitled "HERITAGE Italian-American 
Style", was advertised in Italian-American magazines and newspapers across 
the country. It took me 18 months of "spare time" promotion, but I managed to 
sell 5,000 copies.    One of the most rewarding aspects of this project was 
the people who telephoned and wrote to express their pleasure with my book. 
Recognition and acceptance are the afterglow that almost compares to the 
birth of a child. Just to hear from all these wonderful people made the whole 
project worthwhile. Equally satisfying was the realization that the book was 
being enjoyed by a wide cross section of people from all educational, income, 
and age brackets.

The first edition sold out. Now what? Should I reprint the existing book for 
a second run or should I somehow try to improve the existing text? The answer 
was easy. I decided to improve it. Over the course of those eighteen months 
of marketing, I had continued to collect interesting information about the 
rich and seemingly endless contributions of the Italian culture.
 
I chose to expand the book from its original 1492 facts to 1776. I decided 
that the final question would be devoted to the Italian American signer of 
the Declaration of Independence. Perfect, I thought, since the number of that 
last question would be 1776. I still felt that there was one important 
ingredient missing. I had hoped that the book would be taken up by schools 
and used in bilingual classes. Why not publish this newly revised and 
expanded book in a bilingual format? After all, the Italian language-perhaps 
the most beautiful language ever uttered on our little planet-is an extremely 
important segment of Italian culture. Indeed, the foundation of any culture 
can be found in its language.  My mind was made up and I would not be 
satisfied until this daunting translation task was completed. If the book had 
any chance at all to enter the hollowed halls of education, its translation 
would have to be first rate. 
Lady luck decided to cast a smile my way when I was introduced to Cataldo 
Leone, an Italian author/journalist and former managing editor of Italia 
magazine who lived in New York. Besides being an expert in the Italian 
language, this Italian born author/journalist turned out to be a terrific 
individual. We discussed the project and he consented to undertake the 90,000 
word translation, and completed the entire text in late March of 2002. By May 
3rd, I had 5,444 copies of my new bilingual ---sitting on six wooden pallets 
in my garage. I had given birth.

There we have it. Now I begin my one-man crusade to publicize and sell the 
book across the country. But in doing this, I hope to enlist others who can 
benefit from my work. Because of the bilingual format, I feel that the book 
can become an important asset for Italian language programs and for 
Italian-American organizations to use as a fundraiser. 

The promotion of the Italian language in the United States should become a 
top priority for all of us who honor and love the language. If we expect our 
Italian culture to continue to grow and flourish in America, then the Italian 
language must continue to be present in our universities and high schools.
 
If an Italian-American organization or an Italian language class would like 
to utilize my book as a fundraiser, I will donate $8.00 for every book sold 
to that participating language class. The beauty of this promotion is 
two-fold. Not only do we promote and earn significant dollars for Italian 
language programs, but we are also educating people in an entertaining manner 
about the tremendous contributions made by the Italian people. 
------------------------------------
Feel free to contact me anytime via email at: heritage1492@earthlink.net or 
by telephone toll-free at: 1-800-715-1492.

I look forward to any comments or suggestions you might have.
Leon J. Radomile