Book presentation
Presentation of the book: My Two Italies (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2014), by Joseph Luzzi.A poignant personal account from a child of Calabrian peasants whose lifelong study of Italy unveils the mysteries of this Bel Paese, “Beautiful Land,” where artistic genius and political corruption have gone hand in hand from the time of Michelangelo to The Sopranos. The child of Italian immigrants Luzzi straddles these two perspectives to link his family’s dramatic story to Italy’s North-South divide, its quest for a unifying language, and its passion for art, food, and family.
“My Two Italies deals with the enduring disconnect between the ideal Italy that is admired as a center of civilization, and the hardship and hardness of the emigrant experience. Both come vividly alive in Luzzi’s heartfelt and illuminating book.”—Gay Talese, author of Unto the Sons.
Presented by Anthony Julian Tamburri, Dean, The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute of Queens College, CUNY and Professor of Italian & Italian/American Studies.
With the participation of Daniel Mendelsohn, the award-winning writer, critic and translator, author of the international bestseller “The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million”.