Weymouth author’s chronicle of the Boston Italians rising on best-seller list
By Dana Barbuto
The Patriot Ledger SouthBoston,MA Sunday.June 3, 2007
After hearing Weymouth author Stephen Puleo talk about his new book, ‘‘The Boston Italians: A Story of Pride, Perseverance and Paesani,’’ Grace Lawson said she wished she were Italian.
‘‘I like their zest for life, food and family ties,’’ said Lawson of Bridgewater, who’s Irish.
Lawson and about 30 others went to a recent book talk and signing at Di Nero’s restaurant in Cohasset, where they were served a lively dose of Italian history with their chicken parmesan.
Released on May 11, the book is at No. 8 on the Patriot Ledger’s local best-seller’s list. Calling it ‘‘very exciting,’’ Puleo, 52, said ‘‘there’s some real pent-up demand and momentum for this book, which is great to see.’’ ...
Those in the audience at Di Nero’s said they are drawn to the book because it feels familiar.
Cathy Coccimiglio of Hull told Puleo how her grandmother made the voyage from Calabria to the United States on a cattle boat to marry her best friend’s brother. Later, her family lived in a three-decker in Dorchester, with family members on every floor.
‘‘I feel like my family is right here,’’ she said clutching the book.
Donna and Joe Zaccheo of Quincy told Puleo how their families might have grown up near each other.
‘‘I’m always being asked, ‘Are we related?’’’ Puleo said, laughing.
That’s because in a shared-history-overcome-adversity sort of way, all Italians are related, Puleo said.
And that’s what Puleo captures in his book - the spirit of proud, hard-working people who rallied around each other to make a better life.
‘‘It’s not a story of victimhood or failure. They didn’t succumb, they overcame,’’ Puleo said.
Puleo was born in Everett, grew up in Burlington and later moved to Weymouth with his wife. He has published two other books - ‘‘Due to Enemy Action,’’ about the last American warship sunk by a U-boat in World War II, and ‘‘Dark Tide,’’ an account of the 1919 molasses flood in Boston’s North End.
As you flip the pages of ‘‘The Boston Italians,’’ you can practically smell the sauce simmering on the stove. It’s not a dull history lesson but a narrative underdog tale of what Puleo calls the ‘‘real story’’ of those early southern Italian immigrants.
‘‘It’s a true American success story and at its root and core it is the epitome of the American dream,’’ he said.
Once the most hated immigrant group, southern Italians - many of them unskilled, illiterate and with pennies in their pockets - arrived during the great immigration wave between 1880 and 1920. Puleo’s own grandparents were part of this migration. One grandfather ended up a cobbler; the other pedaled fruit from a pushcart.
‘‘They came to America to change their way of life,’’ Puleo said.
Italian immigrants went from peasant villages to crowded, cramped tenements in the North End, where each street represented a different region of Italy: Sicilians on North Street, those from Abruzzo on Endicott Street.
‘‘It was a big deal if you wanted to move from Prince Street to North Street - and that’s only about a five-minute walk,’’ Puleo said.
Italians were comfortably isolated in their 800,000-square-foot enclave in the city, shielded by the expressway.
‘‘The North End became the center of Italian cultural life with its feasts and social clubs. It was a big deal to move away,’’ Puleo said.
The Puleo family created a stir when they decided to head to Burlington.
‘‘‘Where’s Burlington? Will we ever see you again?’ was the reaction we got,’’ Puleo said to a laughing audience.
Aiming to move beyond stereotypes, Puleo cites the 1972 release of ‘‘The Godfather’’ as an important moment in Italian history. Though the movie is one of his favorites, it forever stamped popular culture with the image of the Italian-American as a gangster.
‘‘That’s only part of the story. It’s fact and we can’t deny it. ... The problem becomes when that is the predominant image of Italian-Americans.’’
Puleo remembers a friend asking him what he was working on.
‘‘I responded, ‘A book about Italians.’ ‘Oh, so it’s about the mob?’ my friend said.’’
Another time, Puleo was in a business strategy meeting - he does corporate communications and marketing - discussing a competitor.
‘‘The vice president says to everyone, ‘Maybe we can get one of Puleo’s relatives to take out a contract on him.’’’ Puleo said. ‘‘Afterward I told him not to make those references.’’
Puleo said he looks forward to sharing the stories of what he calls the ‘‘most successful immigrant group’’ at upcoming book events.
‘‘We’re the children of hundreds of thousands of Italians whose genius has shaped the Western world,’’ Puleo said, ‘‘But we’re also the children of the Anthony Puleos who overcame so much adversity.’’
Dana Barbuto may be reached at dbarbuto@ledger.com .
http://www.patriotledger.com/articles/2007/05/30/life/life01.txt
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