Description
Book SynopsisThe Mungellos (pronounced mun-JEL-os) were Italian-American children of Vesuvius. Raffaele was a builder, Marianna was a businesswoman, Filippo died in a gang murder in Pittsburgh. They fled the threats of the Black Hand, going to a booming coal-mining town and opening movie theaters. Dominic graduated from college during the Great Depression. The shadow of the gang pursued them, leading to labor disputes and arson which destroyed their new theater. On the East and West coasts, Evelyn and Marianne had simultaneous backstreet affairs with powerful and wealthy men. There was a murder trial for the questionable death of an adopted son from El Salvador. At Berkeley, David had an adulterous same-sex love affair with Carl Wittman, a national leader in SDS and Gay Liberation. Their love affairs projected them up the ladder of American success as they damned one another to their deaths. This is a true story.
Trade ReviewRemember This is a sweeping saga of America in the 20th Century as seen through the lives of an immigrant family of ambition and character who let their dreams and their passions take them to the heights and at times close to the depths. It's also the well told, paradigmatic story of the author who found himself inside several dissident movements of the '60's and 70's and how he survived to make himself a family. -- Felice Picano, author of Like People in History and Nights at Rizzoli
David Mungello’s Remember This: A Family in America is an extra-ordinary non-fictional narrative. It is, on the one hand, a fascinating autobiography of an Italian American baby-boomer in the academy. On the other hand, it proves to be much more; namely, it is an in-depth analysis of the social dynamics of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States and their subsequent impact on society. Remember This is a must read for Italian Americans; for those wanting to enter the academy; for those who are looking for a unique perspective on the years of social change in the United States; and, last but not least, for those concerned with identity politics. Buona lettura! -- Anthony Julian Tamburri, Dean of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute at Queens College
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Prologue 1. Uncle Filippo’s Murder, 1919 2. Roots, 1884–1914 3, A Death in the Family, 1915–1944 4. Dreams and Feuds, 1941–1989 5. A Small Town in Pennsylvania, 1947–1955 6. My Parents, 1937–1961 7. Leaving Home, 1955–1966 8. Christine, 1946–1968 9. Carl, 1943–1963 10. The Movement, 1963–1967 11. Liberation, 1967–1969 12. Leaving Carl, 1969 13. Moving On, 1970–1973 14. Back to the Land, 1969–1977 15. Rootless in Asia and Europe, 1973–1980 16. Exile in Iowa, 1980–1984 17. The Passion of the Women in My Family, 1944–1984 18. Carl’s Death, 1977–1986 19. The Horse Was Already Out of the Barn, 1996 20. Memento Mori, 1996–1997 21. Christine’s Death, 1997 22. Lies, 1998–2015 23. My Third Regret, 1972–2015
