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Rebel Girl and the Godfather: New York City's Italians and the Fight for Civil Rights

Name: Rebel Girl and the Godfather: New York City's Italians and the Fight for Civil Rights
Brand: Excelsior Editions/State University of New Yo
SKU: 9798855803426
Price: 22.99 USD
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Contributors:

Jeffrey Louis Decker

Publisher:

Excelsior Editions/State University of New Yo

Binding:

Paperback

Book Category:

History, Social Science

Book Subcategory:

United States, Race & Ethnic Relations, Cultural & Ethnic Studies

Book Topic:

20th Century, American

Series:

Suny Italian/American Culture

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The product is eligible for a complimentary return within 30 days from the date of purchase. Furthermore, individual items are shipped within 24 hours of receiving the order.

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Specifications +

Release Date:

9/1/2025

ISBN 13:

9798855803426

Weight:

1.07 lbs

Size:

9.00 x 6.00 x 0.81 inches

Pages:

360

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product description

Description

The story of how an Italian American housewife and community organizer battled a Brooklyn Mafia boss and political activist for the hearts and minds of a white working class in revolt.

This is the true story of a rivalry between a pair of improbable social justice crusaders--Mary Sansone, an Italian homemaker, and Joe Colombo, a Mafia boss--set against the backdrop of Brooklyn's racial and ethnic feuds of the 1960s and 1970s. From her basement kitchen, Mary Sansone launched the Congress of Italian American Organizations, a social-action coalition operating multimillion-dollar programs on behalf of the Italian poor. From his office suite high above Madison Avenue, Joe Colombo defied omertà to commandeer the Italian American Civil Rights League, an audacious anti-defamation organization that convinced thousands to join sidewalk pickets and mass demonstrations. When, around 1970, Mary and Joe's paths finally cross, they battle each other for the hearts and minds of a white working class in revolt. This book challenges stereotypes of the docile Italian wife and the parochial Mafioso by recasting these actors as a rebel girl and a renegade wiseguy. It offers an alternative history of the 1960s and 1970s, when it was presumed that white ethnics living in urban America were predisposed to responding to the civil rights movement with backlash and the women's movement with scorn.

About the Author

Jeffrey Louis Decker is a professor in the English Department at UCLA.

Rebel Girl and the Godfather: New York City's Italians and the Fight for Civil Rights

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