Product Description

Offering a kaleidoscopic perspective on the experiences of Italian workers on foreign soil, Italian Workers of the World explores the complex links between international class formation and nation building. Distinguished by an international panel of contributors, this wide-ranging volume examines how the reception of immigrants in their new countries shaped their sense of national identity and helped determine the nature of the multiethnic states in which they settled. Donna R. Gabaccia, Mellon Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh, is the author of Militants and Migrants: Rural Sicilians Become American Workers and other books. Fraser M. Ottanelli, an associate professor of history at the University of South Florida, is the author of The Communist Party in the United States: From the Depression to World War II. A volume in the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Centennial Series, edited by Jon Gjerde and Vicki L. Ruiz

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1494849 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-09
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .82 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

From the Inside Flap
"Marked by a rare coherence and clarity of vision, this elegant collection is a focused attempt to come to grips with some of the thornier issues that have confronted immigration historians in the past decade: how to practice comparative history, how to reconcile historians' emphasis on nation-states with the transnationalism paradigm of social scientists, and how to make race and class meaningful analytical categories rather than tired clichés." -- Dorothee Schneider, author of Trade Unions and Community: The German Working Class in New York City, 1870-1900

"An important book located at the intersection of labor migration, workers' internationalism, and nation-building, Italian Workers of the World offers compelling portraits of courageous class-conscious workers and radical exiles negotiating both national and transnational identities. An inspiring model for international collaboration and transnational perspectives on historical practice, the book challenges us to rethink the connections between the building of national labor movements and international class solidarity." -- Franca Iacovetta, author of Enemies Within: Italians and Other Internees in Canada and Abroad