Family Connections

A History of Italian and Jewish Immigrant Lives in Providence, Rhode Island, 1900-1940

By Judith E. Smith

Paperback : 9780873959650, 256 pages, June 1985
Hardcover : 9780873959643, 256 pages, June 1985

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Description

Family Connections examines the dimensions of daily survival strategies for newcomers in an uncertain urban environment. Focusing on the history of Italian and Jewish immigrant families in Providence, Rhode Island, the book assesses the links between familial and ethnic culture and broader allegiances of solidarity, and suggests some of the differences between male and female experience within a shared identity as a family. Contains four maps, 25 photos.

Judith E. Smith is Assistant Professor of History at Boston College.

Reviews

"This strikes me as a lovely manuscript, telling an important story without pomposity, in accessible language, and with a first-rate sense of incident and quotation. What I like best is that the author, while writing a piece of 'new social history' has nevertheless succeeded in being evocative. " — John Modell

"It has a humane quality to it which makes it extremely interesting to read, and it is about a period of American history which is close enough to our own times to make it interesting but far enough from our own experience to demand explanation. " — Elizabeth H. Pleck