Customer Reviews

The Immgrant World of Ybor City: Italians and Their Latin Neighbors in Tampa, 1885-1985 (Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Centennial Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the past, I have had the great opportunity to have Gary Mormino as my history teacher at the University of South Florida. He was, to say the least, a grand teacher. His skill exhibited in the class, to say the least, come alive in this book. This is a great book and a great read - find it and read it.

As a person who grew up in Tampa, and is very aware of Ybor City, I think this book is great. Mormino and Pozzetta outdid themselves on this book. There is so much detail in this book, it feels like you are walking the old brick streets in Ybor. Hopefullly more teachers will have their class read this as it pertains to a great piece of America's history.

Excellent history of our ancestors who immigrated to Ybor City. Easy reading. It's really great that someone took the time to create a historic document of a day gone by. As a 45 yr. old, my family members who remember those days were gone before I or anyone else in the family cared.

Dr. Mormino isn't originally from Tampa, but he's written two of the best books on the area's history: "Tampa, The Treasure City" and this one. Yes, the focus is more on the Italian residents of Ybor City than in most books on the area, but every group in that Latin soup is covered in great detail.

The factor that makes this book indispensible to students of Tampa history and immigrant studies are the stories of the immigrants themselves. Mormino researched his subject during the early 1980s, when some of the 2nd generation residents were still alive. Their first-hand accounts of turn-of-the-century Ybor City bring the vibrant community to life.

I'd place this work among the Big Three books written about Ybor City, along with Lastra's "The Making of a Landmark Town" and Nuniz's "The Ybor City Story". Highly recommended.

This book does seem to be thorough in the facts that it does represent, but it is somewhat misleading. As a 5th generation Florida native, all residing in the same county as Ybor City, this book leaves me with the impression that the Italians were a much larger part of Ybor City than they actually were in reality. It is true that the Italians, Spaniards and Cubans did form a unique community, other accounts suggest that the Italians blended into the Spanish and Cuban cultures more than the Spanish and Cuban cultures blended into the Italian culture. There is no doubt the Italians were very influential in the unique community of Ybor City, but it was a cigar town, and that craft was much more prevalent in the Spanish and especially the Cuban cultures. This book is also written as more of a text book style as opposed to a non-fiction style. You must have a very strong vocabulary to understand it. It is also written with many quotes in Italian that are not followed by English translations in parenthesis. If you are really interested in some very specific Italian history, especially Siciilian, and are willing to take on the complex verbage and phrasology, then this book is for you. If that is not your purpose, then you should spend your money on something a little more entertaining. There are many true stories to be told about Ybor City that are both historically significant and entertaining. If you want to learn a broader and more proportionate history, read one written from the Spanish or Cuban point of view. It is my understanding that around 1900, the population of Ybor City was approximately 25% Italian, 25% Spanish and 50% Cuban. The Cuban portion also included many Black Cubans, also.