Boston's North End: Images And Recollections of an Italian-American Neighborhood - Softcover

Riccio, Anthony V.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0762739746 ISBN 13: 9780762739745

Publisher: UNKNO, 2006

Synopsis

Illustrated with nearly 200 vintage photos of Boston''s North End, this book presents a delightful and fascinating social history of one of the last intact Italian-American neighborhoods in the United States. It is the result of many years of interviewing hundreds of Italian immigrants--the last custodians of the ancient oral tradition transported from Italy--who at the turn of the last century left their rural homeland, carrying their Old World contadino customs and beliefs to the North End, and transformed the urban ghetto of Boston into a Little Italy.

These stories are vivid recollections about the immigrants'' life experiences in Italy and the New World. It reveals the remarkable working history of Italian immigrant men and women, the assimilation of these people into the American way of life, the old traditions that they adapted to their new surroundings, and their undying loyalty to family. The North End community''s transformation after the 1980s'' urban redevelopment is also addressed in many of the oral histories.

Many people granted the author access to prized family albums containing a wealth of unpublished photographs of the old neighborhood in the North End. This book was written to fulfill the wish of one North End elder: "So that people will never forget us."

About this title

From the Back Cover

Illustrated with 100 vintage photos of Boston's North End and the people who made it their home, this book offers a heartfelt and fascinating view of one of the last intact Italian-American neighborhoods in the United States. Written to fulfill the wish of one North End elder, "so that people will never forget us," it is the result of many years of interviews with hundreds of Italian immigrants. At the turn of the last century these individuals left their rural homeland, carrying their Old World contadino customs and beliefs, and transformed the urban ghetto of Boston into a Little Italy.
Through vivid recollections spoken in their unique village idiom, these elderly storytellers bring to life the remarkable working history of Italian- immigrant men and women, their adaptation of old traditions and village lifestyle to their new urban surroundings, their assimilation into the American way of life, and their undying loyalty to family and community.
Together, this collection of images and oral histories clearly depict what the old neighborhood was like prior to the 1980s when the progression of urban development in the North End transformed the community, and life itself, forever.

About the Author

Anthony Riccio grew up in an old ethnic neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, where the constant hum of the local American Steel and Wire mill could be heard in the well-tended backyards of Italian immigrants. He returned to the ancestral villages of his grandparents while pursuing an M.A. from Syracuse University in Florence and photographed daily life in the rural villages of the south. He later became the director of the North End Senior Citizen Center in Boston, where he conducted oral-history interviews and photographed elderly Italian Americans of the North End neighborhood. He lives in Westbrook, Connecticut.

Edition details

• Publisher: UNKNO
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0762739746
• ISBN 13: 9780762739745
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 180