Reviews for Boston's North End: Images and Recollections of an Italian-American Neighborhood

The average rating for Boston's North End: Images and Recollections of an Italian-American Neighborhood based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-02-04 00:00:00 Alain Fournes The book is a collection of interviews from the 1970s with elder résidents of the North End of Boston who provide pictures of their families in Italy and while they lived in the North End. Family stories include descriptions of endured hardships in Italy that spurred the immigration to America of the late 19th and early 20th century. Residents remember their experiences of starting life in a neighborhood that held on to Italian language and customs. The chronology of their expériences goes from the late 19th century to the 1980s and includes the corrosive effects of urbanization on the Italian way of life. The decrease of new immigration, led to the eventual de-italianization of the neighborhood, and the sadness of the remaining elderly who did not leave the nieghborhood. They have only the memories of the old italian neighbors and families who have moved away or died, and faced with the reality of high rents wait for an apartment to be available in elderly housing in order to remain in the neighborhood. The book hold interest as a history of the gradual dying out of a neighborhood as a result of urbanization and decreased immigration by Italians to the North End.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-05-17 00:00:00 Brian Lueders It's unfair for me to review this book as it was just not for me. I have no interest in reading about crabbing techniques or making eight layer cake. There's not much else to do on Smith Island. Smith Island may be a wonderful tourist destination, but it does not make for interesting reading.