With writings that span more than thirty-five years, American Woman, Italian Style is a rich collection of essays that fleshes out the realities of today's Italian American women and explores the myriad ways they continue to add to the American experience. The status of modern Italian-American women in the United States is noteworthy: their quiet and continued growth into respected positions in the professional worlds of law and medicine surpasses the success achieved in that of the general population-so too does their educational attainment and income. Contributions include Donna Gabaccia on the oral-to-written history of cookbooks, Carol Helstosky on the Tradition of Invention, an interview with Sandra Gilbert, Paul Levitt's look at Lucy Mancini as a metaphor for the modern world, William Egelman's survey of women's work patterns, and Edvige Giunta on the importance of a selfconscious understanding of memory. There are explorations of Jewish-Italian intermarriages and interpretations of entrepreneurship in Milwaukee. Readers will find challenges to common assumptions and stereotypes, departures from normal samplings, and springboards to further research. American Woman, Italian Style: Italian Americana's Best Writings on Women offers unique insights into issues of gender and ethnicity and is a voice for the less heard and less seen side of the Italian-American experience from immigrant times to the present. Instead of seeking consensus or ideological orthodoxy, this collection brings together writers with a wide range of backgrounds, outlooks, ideas, and experiences. It is an impressive postmodern collection for interdisciplinary studies: a book and a look about being and becoming an American.

In the 70s both the big folk music and peace and love eras were gasping last breaths; we were living the last days of a pre-consumerist society. Big business, branding and surveillance knuckled in. THE FIDDLE CASE uses the politics and culture of this transitional time, particularly at the summer of 1972, as backdrop for a coming of age story. Nineteen year olds, Anna and Cindy, take a cross-country trip, starting out as fresh-eyed, East Coast best-friends. Along the way sex, jealousy, family secrets, and their inevitable loss of innocence pushes them apart . One of them has a gun, they get involved with a cult, and together they witness a murder in California. in order to survive the two are forced to collaborate, not to abandon each other. In the end, each goes their separate ways, one holding onto the idea of an ideal love and the other looking to satisfy personal ambition.