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

Boston's North End: Images And Recollections of an Italian-American Neighborhood by Riccio, Anthony V.. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780762739745.

Illustrated with nearly 200 vintage photos of Bostons 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 communitys 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 Many people granted the author access to prized family albums containing a wealth of unpublished photographs of the old neighborhood in the North End.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."