Rosa: The Life of an Italian Immigrant (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography)
by Marie Hall Ets
Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography
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Description
This is the life story of Rosa Cavalleri, an Italian woman who came to the United States in 1884, one of the peak years in the nineteenth-century wave of immigration. A vivid, richly detailed account, the narrative traces Rosa’s life in an Italian peasant village and later in Chicago. Marie Hall Ets, a social worker and friend of Rosa’s at the Chicago Commons settlement house during the years following World War I, meticulously wrote down her lively stories to create this book. show more Rosa was born in a silk-making village in Lombardy, a major source of north Italian emigration; she first set foot in the United States at the Castle Garden immigrant depot on the tip of Manhattan. Her life in this country was hard and Ets chronicles it in eloquent detail—Rosa endures a marriage at sixteen to an abusive older man, an unwilling migration to a Missouri mining town, and the unassisted birth of a child, and manages to escape from a husband who tried to force her into prostitution. Rosa’s exuberant personality, remarkable spirit, and ability as a storyteller distinguish this book, a unique contribution to the annals of U.S. immigration. show lessTags
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A personal account of the life of Rosa Cavalleri (aka Ines Cassettari) 1866-1943, an Italian American immigrant. The story is in her words, as recorded by Marie Hall Ets. Definitely worth reading if you are interested in Italian Americans and the life they left, and the life they led in the US. The story is honest and unique, and it is hard to read it without getting mad at those that mistreated her.
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32+ Works 5,367 Members
Series
Classifications
- Genres
- Biography & Memoir, Nonfiction, History, General Nonfiction, Sociology
- DDC/MDS
- 973.04510452 — History & geography History of North America United States United States Ethnic And National Groups Italian Americans
- LCC
- E184 .I8 .E8 — History of the United States United States Elements in the population Afro-Americans
- BISAC
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- Members
- 25
- Popularity
- 1,069,983
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.75)
- Languages
- English, Italian
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
