Rosa: The Life of an Italian Immigrant

by Marie Hall Ets

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0299162540
• ISBN13: 9780299162542
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Beyond the usual cliches about immigrants

History is so much more when you see what a lifetime was really like in the 19th or 20th century for someone completely "unimportant." A story like Rosa's is a hundred times better than the oatmeal summaries we get about immigrant hardships and all the stuff about people coming to find their fortunes in America or whatever. This gutsy girl never wanted to come, didn't choose to come, but what do you do if you start out life as a foundling, are sent to work in a silk factory at age 8 where your job is to unravel silk cocoons (!), and then you get married off to an old creep who's carting you off mostly to run his boarding house and look after his mistress while he slaves in an iron mine in Missouri. Man, this was a hard life, but out of it came this wonderful, storytelling woman who somehow survived to tell us what things were really like to end up starving in Chicago in the 1890s. Whew. Forget the history textbooks. Let's just puts books like these in front of our kids. And ourselves. Take Me With You When You GoNutty to Meet You! Dr. Peanut Book #1

Rosa

A wonderful view of immigrant life as well as a poignant look at life in the old country. Rosa's voice is full of detail--almost as if she is sitting across the table from you, sharing the joys and sorrows of her life.

I couldn't put this down.

Being a member of a third generation Italian American family this book was very interesting to me. I felt like I was sitting next to Rosa as she went through her experiences. It brought back many memories. I finished the book in one weekend then mailed it to my Italian mother for her to enjoy. This is the first Italian American book I have read that was written from a women's point of view. I highly recommend it.

A vivid tale

I stumbled across this book a month ago while writing a term paper on Italian immigration.Rosa's tale is a poignant story. Her life story reveals her pride,faith and determination to survive in both the new and old world and her unwillingness to compromise her values. I highly recommend this book!

Rosa's life is unforgetable, as is Rosa herself

First we need to thank Helen Barolini for resurrecting this precious book from obscurity. And for all those who complain there are no uplifting, inspiring tales about Italians, here in Rosa The Life Of An Italian Immigrant, is the proof that there certainly is. Rosa would be the first to say she was no one special, just an ordinary peasant orphan who kept herself from starvation and worse by the faith of her religion and incredilby hard work for her entire life. Not that hard work is a surprise but the reality with which this uneducated woman shows us a plain ordinary life is as unforgettable as she is. God gave her the gift to tell the story of her life, to share laughs and to charm her new friends in wherever she landed, in a mining camp, a convent school or a silk factory.From her early life as a child laborer who is beaten for mistakes in the silk mills of the 1860s to the uneducated young girl who is forced to marry a lousy, drunken bum, Rosa perseveres and triumphs with a long life and many friends who love her. You can't read this story with out falling in love with this precious woman as she endures life.In 2001, it is hard to imagine that the cruelties Rosa suffered were every day occurences a century ago (or even less!), that is, nothing unusual. We have come a long way baby, but we had better not forget where we've come from. Rosa The Life Of An Italian Immigrant will keep you rooted in the reality of our history and ancestry. Buy it, read it. Give it to your friends. Buy them their own copies! Give it as gifts to all the young women in your family. Rosa's story must be remembered. Her story is unforgetable, so is Rosa Cavalleri.Hey, Hollywood, I dare you to make a movie about this incredible woman!!!!