Sons
of Italy Releases Spring 2005 Book Club Selections
Press
Contact: Kylie Cafiero, (202) 547-2900 kcafiero@osia.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. - April
5, 2005
Italian
movie classics; the Italian resistance movement;
and a deadly strike that rocked early America
are the subjects of the books chosen as the
Sons of Italy Book Club spring 2005 selections.
• The
Cinema of Italy Edited by Giorgio Bertellini.
Written for movie lovers, this anthology
of essays examines 24 classics of Italian cinema
made between 1932 and 1994. Included
are such landmark films as Ladri di biciclette
(Bicycle Thieves, 1948); La Strada (The Street,
1954); La Ciociara (Two Women), for which Sophia
Loren won an Academy Award in 1962, and many
others. [$24.50; paperback; 271 pages; Wallflower
Press]
•
For Love and Country: The Italian Renaissance
by Patrick Gallo. This non-fiction work tells
the little-known story of the Italian resistance
movement during World War II. Italy’s was one
of the most successful resistance movements in
Europe—an impressive feat given the fact that
it came at a time when Italy was the battleground
for three simultaneous wars: civil, class and
the Nazi occupation. Gallo shows how the movement
in Rome involved men and women of all ages, classes,
ideologies and religions. [$55.00; paperback;
361 pages; University Press of America, To order,
call 800/462-6420]
•
The Death of Spring by Silvio J. Caputo,
Jr. In 1913,
immigrant coal miners, many of them Italian, went
on strike in Ludlow, Colorado to protest inhumane
and dangerous working conditions and wages of $1.68 per day. The mines were owned
by the Rockefeller family and when the strike continued into 1914, the company
attacked the striking workers and their families, killing 23. Caputo has based
his novel on the historical events that led up to the Ludlow Massacre of 1914,
with extensive interviews of survivors and descendants. [$14.95; paperback; 310
pages; Ashley Books, Inc. To order, call 719/544-1135.]
ALSO
WORTH READING…
• Closet
Italians: A Dazzling Collection of Illustrious
Italians with Non-Italian Names By Nick J. Mileti.
Some of the most influential people in music, the
arts, politics and sports are Italian-American.
This collection of "Illustrious Italians” do not
have Italian last names either through marriage, a non-Italian father
or because they changed their surnames to avoid
discrimination. [$19.54; paperback; 358 pages;
Xlibris. To order, call 888/795-4274.]
• Wisdom through the Ages: Italian and English Proverbs
and Quotations By Pasquale Varano. A collection of hundreds of proverbs and quotations, organized
by subject, including love, marriage, destiny, and children, among
others. Each proverb is given in Italian, translated into English and
supplemented with several related proverbs of different origins. [$16.00;
paperback; 176 pages; Legas. To order, call 718/990-5203.]
• Powdered Peas and other Blessings: Life
in an Orphanage in Naples By Christine Foster Meloni.
Meloni has collected the personal stories of 21 former residents of
Casa Materna, an orphanage in Naples. She describes what it was like
growing up in this loving orphanage: getting an education, learning
a trade and the great impact it has on the orphans’ lives. [$20.99;
paperback; 133 pages; Xlibris Publishers. To order, call 703/922-7142.]
The
Sons of Italy National Book Club is dedicated to the works of Italian
American writers who focus on Italian American issues, themes and experiences.
OSIA chooses three to four fiction and non-fiction books each quarter for
a total of 12 to 16 titles a year.
OSIA encourages
its 700+ lodges as well as other Italian American
organizations, clubs and individuals to choose
one or more of the books each quarter to read
and donate copies to their local schools or public
libraries.
Most book club selections can be bought
on the OSIA Web site (www.osia.org).
Order all your
books, magazines, etc. through OSIA and Amazon.com.
Just go to www.osia.org, click on "Sons of Italy Book
Club" and
choose either a Book Club selection or another book or product.
Most orders are shipped within 24 hours.
As a special bonus, Amazon.com
will donate a percentage of all sales ordered on our
site to OSIA.
OSIA is the largest and oldest national
organization in the U.S. for men and women of Italian
heritage in the United States. It has more than 600,000
members and supporters and a network of more than 700
chapters coast to coast. OSIA works at the community,
national and international levels 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.
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