Albert Melone Presents Mezzogiorno in Chicago - Historical Tale of Italian Immigrants in early 1900s...

On the Near West Side of Chicago in 1907, Italian migrant workers were quietly sitting on the floor after their boarding house evening meal. Frankie Andolini suddenly snatched from Dominic Russo's hand a photograph of a young woman. Dominic angrily complained, "What the hell are you doing. Give me back my fotografia! You want me to break your naso?"
"Keep your pants on Dominic. I am just taking a look. She is bella. Is this the woman you will be marrying back home? You are a lucky man, I say."

"No, no Frankie. It is a picture of my sister Rachela. She is at home in Pizzoli in the Abruzzo, where she lives with my mother and brother Anthony. Now give it back to me unless you want me to work you over--you little napolitano stronzo shit."
The other nine or ten men sitting there in the dimly lit room listening to the developing ruckus apprehensively turned their heads toward Dominic and Frankie. They had never before seen Dominic Russo visibly angry...
Frankie said, "Here take the picture. I did not mean to offend you or to insult your family, Dominic. I just saw you holding the photograph and she looked like an angel to me. I could not resist."
At this time, Dominic was in the prime of his life at twenty-three years of age...Not particularly well read himself, Dominic nevertheless was a good listener and capable of using his head to solve problems, and occasionally he displayed a quick wit with a sharp tongue. With Frankie's apology and the palpable group pressure imposed by the other men, Dominic's demeanor returned to his even-tempered normal self. He said to Frankie, "Well, I can understand your excitement about seeing a pretty woman, especially because few good looking women would want to look at your faccia bruta." With the uncomplimentary remark that Frankie had an ugly face, the men sitting there howled with laughter. Dominic's exaggeration released the remaining tension in the air, and even Frankie chuckled at the humiliating joke aimed at his expense. Dominic then said, "As long as you are respectful, it is fine with me to ask about my sister and family..."

~~~

Mezzogiorno in Chicago:
Love and Trouble on Ogden Avenue

By Albert P. Melone

Washington and Ogden

After working hard all day at back-breaking jobs, the Italian immigrants crowded into their living quarters where lack of space forced a togetherness that they might have preferred not to have... So when Dominic was feeling a bit lonely and pulled out the picture of his sister Rachela, it was bound to draw attention of the, perhaps, ten men who sat of the floor after dinner. One of them was close enough to see Rachela's beauty and grabbed and took the picture to get a closer look.

Dominic became angry and the two men almost came to blows until  Frankie apologized and returned the photo. As simple as that interaction was, nobody would have known what it would bring about...

He approached the little stone house and knocked
gently on the wooden front door. His mother opened
the door and yelled to the others, "Oh, Dio, che
gioia! God blessing, Dominic is home." She grabbed
Dominic, hugging and kissing him on both cheeks;
her lips smacked loudly, the smell of garlic emitting
from her finger tips as she was in the middle of
preparing the evening meal. She said excitedly,
"My son, sit down! Here, sit next to the fire.
Vi sentite bene? Are feeling good, my son? You
seem to be cold freddo."
"Sure, sure, it is cold outside; I have been traveling
a long time. ..Then Dominic's brother and sister
came into the room where they embraced him
warmly with big hugs and kisses on both cheeks
of his unshaven and heavily whiskered face....
~~~

Dominic had declared that he did not mind talking about his family as long as it was respectfully done. And so Frankie asked more and more about Rachela, finally after time had passed, asking Dominic about the possibility of Rachela joining with Frankie in marriage!

As Frankie became persistent, they talked about the money necessary to make that happen and Frankie agreed, finally, to pay for passage of Rachela and her mother to come to America...and also to not expect the normal dowry, which the family could not provide.

So it was that Dominic would go back home to talk about Frankie's proposal. Pleasantly surprised by those who lived in his village at their recognition and welcome home, he realized how wonderful it was to be around so many people he knew and cared about...


After they had all caught each other up with news, Dominic explained what he had to present to Rachela. It happened at a time when she was willing to listen--the boy she was in love with had become a priest! His love for God had come first, leaving Rachela confused and in turmoil. So, after much discussion, it was agreed that Anthony would stay at the farm and Rachela and their mother would travel back to Chicago with Dominic...

If only this arranged marriage would have gone as so many others had...


First when they arrived, Frankie was back it Italy because his mother was seriously ill and not there to greet his intended wife. Months went by and Rachela had gotten a job at a local story where the owners were kind to her and she was able to help financially. Both she and her mother was staying with Dominic and space was limited. Still, her mother was there to fix meals and work to adjust to their new home, learning as much as she was able. They quickly started to the Holy Guardian Angel Church, meeting Father Pasquale Turano and warmly being welcomed there. This was so important because he was there later when all the trouble started!

Rachela jumped to her feet
shouting, "You don't scare me
you ruffiano. This family does
not believe in violence, and we
do not break bread with the
likes of you. I do not want to
see you ever again!"
"Remember Rachela you are
promised to me..."
~~~

Rachela had started taking a class and met a young personable man. Nothing about the return of Frankie had been available and these two young people soon grew close and fell in love. Soon things became complicated because Frankie had come back and was ready to wed Rachela... This might have happened no matter about Rachela now loving Pietro Violini, but they discovered that Frankie, although now much more wealthy, was a member of the mafia who "provided protection" to neighborhood businesses. None of the Russos was willing to have her marry into this situation!

But Frankie was not willing to take this as the final answer... and it would not end until blood was shed...

This Historical novel is an excellent look at the immigrants who were coming to America seeking a better living. The work was, for many, harder than what they may have done back home, but the pay provided was able to keep them living and even, often, sending some back to Italy. There is much geographical, cultural and political information as merged and presented from the perspective of the Russo family. Readers are able to experience what it was like during early years into the 50s...

It is not giving anything away that happens, so I wanted to include the last paragraph of this book, which, to me, told much about why the book was written.

Italian-Americans roam the country and the world looking for a state of mind they seek, but nonetheless experience profound difficulty attaining. Perhaps, home is not a place; it is an ambiguity. It is neither a parcel of land nor simply a state of mind. It may be that something vital is missing in their understanding of who they are and where they come from. Rediscovering Rachela's America by tracing her steps is one mode to locate the moral compass they need to find their way home. Once they arrive, one might proclaim with justification that a new beginning is imaginable. The lessons of which may be instructive to the diverse peoples of the entire country badly in need of a new understanding of the meaning and practices of authentic community.

Historians--those interested in the time period, immigration activities, and/or those interested in the Chicago early development or Italian immigrants, Italian Americans, are just the major groups who will find this a valuable and impressive novel. For myself, the life of Rachela proved to be the dominant draw as we think about those times when marriages were arranged by families. And love sometimes just didn't happen. The intrigue of criminal actions and family ties is certainly a drawing point. I wish I could say that it was an easy life, but that was not the case. And I wondered, was part of that due to the issue of not "understanding who we are together with the ability to develop an authentic community," no matter where we are and our background. There is much to ponder because, after all, we still have the challenges of prejudice, criminal corruption, economic depression, etc., to pressure the lives we now live daily... Highly recommended.


GABixlerReviews

Albert P. Melone is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC). A third generation Italian American, the author was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was educated in the public schools of Chicago and Southern California. He first matriculated at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut California. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in political science from California State University, Los Angeles, and studied law for a year at Loyola University, Los Angeles. After teaching at Idaho State University, he went on to receive the Ph.D. degree at the University of Iowa. He was a member and chair of the Department of Political Science at North Dakota State University during the 1970s, and became a member of the SIUC faculty in 1979, where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in judicial process and behavior, constitutional law, comparative judicial politics, and American government and politics. He directed graduate students in the completion of their M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. He is the recipient in 1991 of the Outstanding Teaching Award, College of Liberal Arts, and was active in university affairs, serving as President of the Faculty and President of the Faculty Senate. He has lectured and held seminars abroad including Oxford University, and at Chinese and Bulgarian institutions of higher learning. After his retirement in 2005, he taught two blocs at Colorado College in consecutive years as a Visiting Professor. Melone is the author of numerous scholarly articles, book chapters, encyclopedia pieces, and book reviews. He has authored or co-authored ten book titles and well over a dozen volumes including second editions and reprints. In 2012, SIUC honored him for his academic contributions as a campus author. He presently resides in Shiloh, Illinois, located in the metro-east area across from the Mississippi River and the City of St. Louis. Mezzogiorno in Chicago: Love and Trouble on Ogden Avenue is his first work of fiction. Melone writes in the Acknowledgments,"After a lifetime of university teaching, research, and writing many scholarly tomes . . . it took considerable effort for me to screw up the courage necessary to wander from the confines of my familiar intellectual reservation to employ fiction as a teaching tool." In the end, Mezzogiorno in Chicago has much to teach Italian Americans and the country at large.

Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson Outstanding Drama Easily in my Top Ten 2013 Favorites!

http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse

"Stanislaw did not move. 'I am not a Jew,' he announced.
"'And I am not a Christian,' said my father. 'And now that we know what we're not, why don't you come in and have a cup of tea.'
"So they sat in the parlor and talked. Stanislaw cried. He had no way to care for his son. He had lost his job as a woodcutter in the forest outside Zamosc and he'd been evicted from the workers' compound at the lumber company. He had no place to live and no money. Otto's mother had abandoned them and run back to her family in Leipzig, Germany. 'My son is freezing,' Stanislaw said. 'I cannot keep him warm.'
"There were newspapers stuffed in the soles of Otto's shoes to keep out the snow. Stanislaw cursed his German wife who had run off. Even if he could find a job, what was he supposed to do with Otto? He'd been told that my father had helped some people get back on their feet.
"It took my mother but a second to see that Otto needed dinner and a bath. She took him by the hand and walked him straight into the bathroom where she filled the tub with hot water. Afterward she asked me to sit with him at the kitchen table where she fed him roast and potatoes.
"Otto and I were about the same size, so we gave him clean clothes. I remember that night like it was yesterday. He sat at the table, staring straight ahead, eating two helpings of everything. And never said a word.
"My mother returned to the kitchen with the news that Otto would be staying with us for a while...Otto was to live with us and share my bedroom. I was less than thrilled, but my mother had laid down the law."
"How long did Otto live with you?" Catherine said.
"For the better part of six years... At our home, Otto received equal portions and was given equal responsibilities. Beka and I had chores, so Otto was given chores, too. My mother knew that taking on responsibilities would give him pride and self-worth.
"She did everything to treat him fairly. When I got new clothes, so did Otto. When we took our winter vacation at Uncle Joseph's and I got new boots, Otto did too. I think my parents became resigned to the fact that Otto would grow to manhood in our home.
"Beka and I attended school at the Jewish academy, but Stanislaw, in one of his few erly, said he thought it best that Otto go to the public school. I don't kow whether Stanislaw ever went to church, but Otto was baptized a Catholic...
"And you shared your room with Otto?"
"I did, and eventually Otto and I became fast friends. We were the same age, we have similar interests and enjoyed the same activities, although Otto was much stronger than I--he was the athletic type. I was more of a bookworm. My Grandpa Yaakov had horses on his farm and we would ride on Sundays. We would pretend to be American cowboys. Tom Mix, Gene Autry," he said with a slight grin..."

~~~

Once We Were Brothers

Ronald H. Balson

Readers of this novel will become involved with finding, proving, and prosecuting a possible war criminal, now living in Chicago. That part of the novel is dramatic, action-oriented and full of suspense as to whether the man, now going under a different name, with great wealth and societal acceptance, is really Otto Piacek, a man once known as... 

But the real story that you will fall into...and be controlled by...is the story told by Ben, who once lived as brother with that same man when he had been hungry and needed food, when he had been cold and needed clothing... Otto became a part of and treated equally in Ben's family during the Depression in Poland... 

His becoming part of the Nazi Germany occupation changed that little boy. 

Ben now sought...

"Chicago, Illinois, September, 2004
"Ben Solomon stood before his bathroom mirror fumbling with his bow tie. He was eight-three years old and getting dressed for Judgment Day. Years had come and gone since he had last worn his tuxedo, but then, Judgment Day was a black tie affair.
"He uttered a Polish phrase to the man in the mirror and reached into his pocket to reexamine his pricey ticket.
"Lyric Opera of Chicago. Opening Night Gala...

"Once more he checked his appearance in the mirror. He asked Hannah if he looked all right. Was he dapper? He wished she were there to answer.

"Underneath his sweaters, in the bottom drawer of his bureau, lay a cardboard cigar box. Setting the box on the bureau top, he lifted the lid and removed a German PO8 Lugar, World War II vintage, in mint condition, purchased at an antique gun show for $1,250. Another hit to his savings account. He stuffed the pistol in his belt beneath his cummerbund.

"Five forty-five. Time to walk to the corner, flag a southbound taxi, and join up with the glitterati at the 'undisputed jewel of the social season."

~~~

"...The city owes you a great deal, Elliott. You're a priceless resource."

"Maybe not so priceless, John." And the two of them laughed.

"While they continued to exchange flatteries, Ben Solomon quietly wound his way through the crowd toward the Grand Benefactor. He was oblivious to the music. He heard no conversations. He saw only his target. Making his way across the floor, he declined a flute of Champagne from a seventeenth-century Italian peasant girl and felt for the Lugar in his belt. 

"He paused until the mayor and his wife had moved on to the next grouping and walked directly to Rosenzweig, his

heart pounding like a pile driver.

"What did you do with all that jewelry?" he said inches from Rosenzweig's face.

"Excuse me, sir?" said the esteemed donor with a smile, unsure if this was part of a staged repertoire. Perhaps an opera joke?

"But there was no sign of frivolity. "Just curious," Solomon said, "I asked you what you did with the jewelry--you know, the watches, diamond bracelets, wedding bands. You have a whole chest full. Don't you remember?"

..."I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, sir."

"In a flash, Solomon drew the polished Lugar and pressed the barrel hard against Rosenzweig's forehead...

"Recognize this gun, Otto? Should be real familiar to a Nazi officer," Solomon said, waving the crowd away with his left arm. "Look at me, Otto. It's Ben Solomon. Here we are, together again, just like when we were kids. Never thought you'd see me again, did you, Hauptscharfuhrer Piatek?"

~~~

I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to receive an ARC of this novel, Once We Were Brothers, which is due out early this month. As you can see, it became one of my favorite books read this year. In fact, I also have the opportunity for a Giveaway, so be sure to express your interest as a comment here or on my interview with the author... Actually, you may have already heard of the book--it was first self-published and sold, word-of-mouth over 120,000 copies. It has been picked up by St. Martins, one of my favorite publishers, so be sure to look for the latest version in case there were any small changes...

Ben Solomon. What can I say but that you will be enthralled with his memorable story. In fact, another character in the book, Catherine Lockhart, was so affected by he and his story that she wound up losing her job over him. Her law firm had refused to allow her to represent him, after being coerced by the opposition! She quit! I loved it! Two other devoted friends, Adele and Liam also totally supported Ben, knowing that he was telling the truth, believing him even when they had not yet found proof...

But, as usual, I get ahead of myself with books I'm excited about! So, back to how the book begins... Ben is now in his 80s and out for blood...I'll let you find out whether that's figurately or literally. In any event, he had seen a picture of a man now calling himself Elliott, who was a prominent resident in the Chicago society. He knew immediately that he was actually Otto Piatek, a man who had been a Nazi officer and involved with the activities related to prisoners of war in Poland...

He had also once lived with Ben's family, sharing Ben's bedroom as a brother...

Ben did do a foolish thing--he'd taken a gun to confront Elliott during a major opera performance! And, of course, had been arrested... Adele and Liam had already met Ben. It was Liam, who also served as an investigator for her, that recommended Ben meet with Catherine for representation.

Almost immediately she was stressing that her calendar did not allow for her taking any clients! And readers will immensely enjoy how Ben starts telling his story, with Catherine continually interrupting, asking for specifics, evidence, etc. Ben calmly continues to let her know that his story is, indeed, part of the evidence. What he knows is that if he can develop passion in Catherine--that she will become committed to helping him. And, of course, Catherine does exactly that, spending hours and hours listening to Ben tell what happened all those years ago...

And Readers will have total access! Can't wait until you tell me he pulled you in too! By the way, Ben is Jewish, so tells much about the Holocaust. But the story is much more about Poland and one location in particular there in that country...

http://www.poland.travel/en-us/news/zamosc-the-pearl-of-renaissance
"In the early 1930s, I was a child growing up in southern Poland, in a town called Zamosc. I had a warm and loving family.
My father's name was Abraham. My mother's name was Leah. God rest their souls. We lived in a three-story home in the Jewish quarter of the city."
"...Zamosc was the jewel of prewar Poland, a gingerbread city built by an Italian architect in the sixteenth century and modeled after the Italian city of Padua. So colorful, so magical it was, you would swear you wode up in Renaissance Italy," Ben said.
..."There were linen doilies on polished tables, Miss Lockhart. Each piece of furniture in our home was special. It had significance. Not like today, when women buy groups of mass-produced generic furniture from warehouse sales on credit terms. Each of my mother's pieces was a treasure to her. Some were heirlooms, passed to her from her parents and their parents, to be passed on to her children and their children. Do you understand what I'm saying? Her home was a reflection of who she was..."
"Before the war, Zamosc was a multicultural city--Greeks, Armenians, Scots, Hungarians, Russians, Italians. And so there were Greek neighborhoods, Russian neighborhoods, Jewish neighborhoods. But we all got along. The mystery of other cultures was something we were taught to respect. In those days, Zamosc was about forty percent Jewish...
"Zamosc was also blessed geographically. The surrounding countryside was like an impressionist's canvas, with thick forests, clear rivers, and rolling hills. Farmlands lay to the north and east. And in the middle our little pastel village. All in all, Zamosc was an idyllic place to live. That was before the Germans decided we were a subspecies to be exterminated like a colony of ants..."
~~~

I'll let Ben share his story as you read...

While Catherine and Liam put together a civil suit, seeking an equivalent value for money and jewelry that Otto had stolen during the war, Ben keeps ensuring them that everything will work out--in the meantime, stopping to talk to his dead wife, or to pause in memory of a specific incident. Would he be able to handle a court case and be accepted as rational and a good witness?

This research activity is exciting to watch as identification, false papers, government records are all sought out and compared. They thought they had a good enough case and proceeded to plan for trial...

I am going to wholeheartedly recommend this novel to you, if you want not only a great legal novel, but care about how people treat each other--and applaud when the bad guy faces judgment!

GABixlerReviews

Ronald H. Balson is an attorney practicing with the firm of Stone, Pogrund and Korey in Chicago. The demands of his trial practice have taken him into courts across the United States and into international venues. An adjunct professor of business law at the University of Chicago for twenty-five years, he now lectures on trial advocacy in federal trial bar courses. Travels to Warsaw and southern Poland in connection with a complex telecommunications case inspired this novel.

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• Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson 10/10