Books on the History of Italian and Calabrian Immigration

A collection of books focusing on immigration history of Calabria and Italy, in general.

Candeloro, Dominic, Fred L. Gardaphe, and Paolo A. Giordano, eds. Italian Ethnics: Their Languages, Literature and Lives. Proceedings of the 20th Annual Conference of the American Italian Historical Association. Staten Island, NY: The American Italian Historical Association, 1990. Paperback, 478pp. Contains an excellent article, "La Grande Emigrazione Italiana negli Stati Uniti: Il Caso della Calabria" by Giuseppe DeBartolo, University of Calabria, written in Italian, and with excellent statistics, etc.

Foerster, Robert F. The Italian Emigration of Our Times. Reprint of 1924 Cambridge Harvard University Press edition. New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1969. Cloth, 556pp. Classic on Italian immigration, with some references to rates and causes of immigration from Calabria, well worth it as a general reference.

Higdon, Rose Musacchio, and Hal Higdon. Falconara: A Family Odyssey. Michigan City, IN: The Roadrunner Press, 1993. Paperback, 187pp. Excellent source for Italo-Albanese immigration from Calabria and history of the village itself.

Nelli, Humbert S. Italians in Chicago, 1880-1930: A Study in Ethnic Mobility. New York: Oxford University Press, 1975. Paperback, 300pp. Excellent general history with some references to the Calabrian settlement.

Scalise, Guiseppe. L'emigrazione dalla Calabria. Napoli, L. Pierro, 1905. Library of Congress call number JV8139.A2C5. (06-19756)

Sturino, Franc. Forging the Chain: Italian Migration to North America, 1880-1930. Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1990. Cloth, 277pp. Superb history of chain migration from the Cosentino villages near Rende - the best account.

Cosenza Emigration -- A table (from the book) showing Cosenza emigration from 1876-1925 with relation to the rest of the world.

Talese, Gay. Unto the Sons. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. First Trade Edition. Cloth, 635pp. Excellent family history of a famous Calabrian-American author--both in Calabria and in the US.

Vecoli, Rudolph J., ed. Italian Immigrants in Rural and Small Town America. Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Conference of the American Italian Historical Association. Staten Island, NY: The American Italian Historical Association, 1987. Cloth, 204pp. References to immigrants of Calabria, especially railroad laborers from Grimaldi and some who settled in Cumberland, WI.

Zucchi, John. Italians in Toronto: Development of a National Identity, 1875-1935. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1988. Cloth, 255pp. General reference with some coverage of immigrants from some Cosentino villages. **Read a review of this book.