Were You Always an Italian?: Ancestors and Other Icons of Italian America

"Finally, Someone has had the intelligence and the honesty to go beyond the stereotypes ... completely original and informative", David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, wrote of Maria Laurino's work, which sifts through the stereotypes bedeviling Italian Americans to deliver a penetrating and hilarious examination of third-generation ethnic identity. With "intelligence and honesty" (Arizona Republic), she writes about guidos, bimbettes, and mammoni (mama's boys in Italy); examines the clashing aesthetics of Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace; and unravels the etymology of southern Italian dialect words like gavone and bubidabetz. According to Frances Mayes, she navigates the conflicting forces of ethnicity "with humor and wisdom".