Are Italians White How Race is Made in America [Paperback]

This dazzling collection of original essays from some of the country's leading thinkers asks the rather intriguing question - Are Italians White? Each piece carefully explores how, when and why whiteness became important to Italian Americans, and the significance of gender, class and nation to racial identity.

This book cuts to the heart of the similarities and the differences between Italian Americans and African Americans, which historically has been a volatile mix. I applaud this insightful scrutiny.

-Spike Lee

Jennifer Guglielmois Assistant Professor of History at Smith College. Salvatore Salernois an independent scholar who has taught at University of Massachusetts at Boston, California State University at Sacramento, and Macalester College. David Roediger(afterword) is the Kendrick Babcock Professor of History at the University of Illinois and the author of many books, including Wagesof Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American WorkingClass.