Rosa: The Life of an Italian Immigrant (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Helen Barolini (Introduction), Rudolph Vecoli (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A vital record of another part of America’s past.”—St. Paul Pioneer Press

“Rosa Cavalleri [is] a gifted storyteller.”—Library Journal

Product Description

"A vital record of another part of America's past."-St. Paul Pioneer Press

"A vivid, personalized account of the life of an ordinary woman born and raised in Italy who migrated to the U.S. in 1884. Rosa Cavalleri [is] a gifted storyteller."-Library Journal

This is the life story of Rosa Cavalleri, as told to Marie Hall Ets, a social worker and noted author of children's books who was a friend of Rosa. Rosa's life in a village in Lombardy, her marriage at sixteen to an abusive older man, her unwilling migration to join him in a Missouri mining town, the unassisted birth of her first child, her escape from her husband who tried to force her into prostitution, and her life as an independent, resourceful, lively woman in Chicago, are chronicled in eloquent detail.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 2 edition (May 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299162540
• ISBN-13: 978-0299162542
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #744,177 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rosa's life is unforgetable, as is Rosa herself, January 30, 2001

By	Anthony R. Buccino (Nutley, NJ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First we need to thank Helen Barolini for resurrecting this precious book from obscurity. And for all those who complain there are no uplifting, inspiring tales about Italians, here in Rosa The Life Of An Italian Immigrant, is the proof that there certainly is.

Rosa would be the first to say she was no one special, just an ordinary peasant orphan who kept herself from starvation and worse by the faith of her religion and incredilby hard work for her entire life. Not that hard work is a surprise but the reality with which this uneducated woman shows us a plain ordinary life is as unforgettable as she is. God gave her the gift to tell the story of her life, to share laughs and to charm her new friends in wherever she landed, in a mining camp, a convent school or a silk factory.

From her early life as a child laborer who is beaten for mistakes in the silk mills of the 1860s to the uneducated young girl who is forced to marry a lousy, drunken bum, Rosa perseveres and triumphs with a long life and many friends who love her. You can't read this story with out falling in love with this precious woman as she endures life.

In 2001, it is hard to imagine that the cruelties Rosa suffered were every day occurences a century ago (or even less!), that is, nothing unusual. We have come a long way baby, but we had better not forget where we've come from.

Rosa The Life Of An Italian Immigrant will keep you rooted in the reality of our history and ancestry. Buy it, read it. Give it to your friends. Buy them their own copies! Give it as gifts to all the young women in your family.

Rosa's story must be remembered. Her story is unforgetable, so is Rosa Cavalleri.

Hey, Hollywood, I dare you to make a movie about this incredible woman!!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A vivid tale, April 25, 2002

By A Customer

I stumbled across this book a month ago while writing a term paper on Italian immigration.
Rosa's tale is a poignant story. Her life story reveals her pride,faith and determination to survive in both the new and old world and her unwillingness to compromise her values.

I highly recommend this book!

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond the usual cliches about immigrants, June 13, 2008

By	Alan Venable "Author/creator of 'Dr. Peanut'... (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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History is so much more when you see what a lifetime was really like in the 19th or 20th century for someone completely "unimportant." A story like Rosa's is a hundred times better than the oatmeal summaries we get about immigrant hardships and all the stuff about people coming to find their fortunes in America or whatever. This gutsy girl never wanted to come, didn't choose to come, but what do you do if you start out life as a foundling, are sent to work in a silk factory at age 8 where your job is to unravel silk cocoons (!), and then you get married off to an old creep who's carting you off mostly to run his boarding house and look after his mistress while he slaves in an iron mine in Missouri. Man, this was a hard life, but out of it came this wonderful, storytelling woman who somehow survived to tell us what things were really like to end up starving in Chicago in the 1890s. Whew. Forget the history textbooks. Let's just puts books like these in front of our kids. And ourselves. Take Me With You When You GoNutty to Meet You! Dr. Peanut Book #1