Portrait of an Italian-American Neighborhood: The North End of Boston

Portrait of an Italian-American Neighborhood is a social history of one of the last intact Italian-American neighborhoods in the United States. It is the result of many years of collecting first-hand information from hundreds of oral interviews with Italian immigrants who at the turn of the century left their farmlands of southern Italy, carrying their old world, contadino traditions and beliefs to the North End. These stories are vivid recollections about immigrants’ life experiences in Italy around the turn of the century, their long journeys under sometimes inhumane conditions to the New World, the terrible living conditions they found when they arrived, their integration into the American way of life, their working experiences during an age of industrial expansion, and as they raised their American-born children, their undying loyalty to their families, friends, and community.