A moving blend of words and images, An Italian American Odyssey tells the story of the journey to America across seven generations of one Italian-American family.
Drawing on a remarkable collection of raw material--fragments of family letters, stories, diaries, and other writings, as well as photographs, collages, and assemblages of such humble objects as a pasta cutter, mismatched kitchen chairs, and faded biancheria, or dowry linens--B. Amore fashions a new encounter with American history, as a story retold and reimagined. Lavishly illustrated in full color, this visual memoir is based on Amore's multimedia exhibition Lifeline: filo della vita, which traveled with great acclaim from the Ellis Island Museum to Boston, Rome, and Naples. Woven throughout are numerous interviews--in both English and Italian, as are many other documents--and historic photographs from the Ellis Island archives. Also included are original essays by Pellegrino D'Acierno, Fred Gardaphè, Jennifer Guglielmo, Edvige Giunta, Flavia Rando, Joseph Sciorra, and Robert Viscusi--who take Amore's art