Customer Reviews

Italians of Northeastern Pennsylvania (PA) (Images of America)

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To paraphrase what Ms. Longo wrote in her introduction: When people think of Italians in Pennsylvania, they don't think of Northeastern Pennsylvania - the areas of Jessup, Dunmore, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, etc. - but Stephanie Longo has done a beyond excellent job of not only documenting the strong Italian presence in upstate Pennsylvania, but in accentuating the fact that that presence is felt in that area today as much as it was almost one hundred years ago.

Ms. Longo's contribution to the Images of America series starts off with the wedding picture of her grandparents, to whom she dedicated the book. This is a taste of how much Italians valued their families, a value that continues to the second and third generation Italian-American, and beyond, whether the person grew up in that environment or not.

Her picture selection was one of the better ones that I have seen emerge from the I.O.A. series. She chose images that showed everyday life and, more importantly, she took advantage of archives direct from Italy. She put her Italian degree to good use there!

I have to be honest when I say that I didn't think the Italians who immigrated to upstate Pennsylvania were many and I certainly didn't think their presence was instrumental in shaping the various communities up there, but Ms. Longo cleared up that misconception awful quick.

I have heard many stories of the awful discrimination Italian immigrants faced while working in the coal mines and railroads, and while Ms. Longo addressed what needed to be addressed, she made sure to stress the fact that those immigrants, many of whom didn't speak a word of English upon their arrival, persevered under horrible conditions and not only made something of themselves but their families as well. I have heard about people who initially settled in upstate Pennsylvania when they immigrated from Italy, but who resettled in Philadelphia, and they stressed the fact that the Italian community was very active in those parts (quite a few folks who lived in the Germantown neighborhood of Philly came from Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, among other towns in upstate PA, and they were Calabrese).

I was very pleased to finally (!) know the town where the majority of those immigrants came from in Italy. Never would I have guessed they came from Umbria! I was also shocked to see the settlement goes back quite a while, with the first Columbus Day Parade held in 1892!

I was especially touched by the part in her introduction when she stated that many Italian immigrants' descendants are, perhaps, unaware of their ancestors' sacrifices. I'd like to expound upon that and say those people probably don't even know they're Italian at all (or, incredulously, are ashamed of their heritage, so they change their names, among other things. Or, better yet, if they're mixed in with another nationality - most predominately Irish or German - they will, majority of the time, deny their Italian heritage and claim they're 100% German or 100% Irish. They'll know to the enth degree where their ancestors came from in Germany or Ireland, and the very day their ancestor arrived in the U.S., yet ask them what region their Italian ancestors came from and you'll be greeted with a blank stare for an answer).

One of the saddest things I've ever seen are the graves of so many Italians (who, I can tell by their date of birth, were immigrants) who died either very young and/or many years ago whose markers and stones lay vacant in many cemeteries year after year after lonely year.

Ms. Longo's volume qualifies as a book-lover's pleasure. Even if your Italian ancestors didn't settle in upstate Pennsylvania (like mine), this is a must-have book in order to get a fuller story of Italian immigration to the U.S.

Great job, Stephanie! - Donna Di Giacomo