Sign up for Genealogy Pointers »

Italian Americans have customs, folkways, beliefs, and behaviors that are unique to their culture. According to Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, who in this work puts a whole new spin on family history research, familiarizing yourself with this culture is the best way to research the American generations of your Italian-American family history. In focusing on Italian-American culture, she has developed a unique approach not only to Italian-American genealogical research, but to genealogical research in general. Her goal is to show you how to document your heritage while placing each generation of your family in its cultural milieu and telling a factual and interesting story about the family.

Among other things, this book enables you to evaluate American records for information specific to Italian-American research, to appreciate the importance of Italian-American cultural perspective, and to write a readable and interesting family history. Above all else, though, this book is designed to help you enjoy researching the American generations of your Italian-American family history.

See also the following books:
Our Italian Surnames
Finding Italian Roots


EDITORIAL REVIEWS

"The author has accomplished a readable, economical, encouraging, and eminently useful 'how-to' for an Italian American family history. That she could do so much in one hundred and forty-two pages is no small achievement."--NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY, Vol. 85, No. 3, pp. 228-229.

"The customs, folkways and beliefs that are unique to Italian-American culture are beautiful described in this genealogical research."--BOOKMAN NEWS, Issue 56, p. 4.

"Italian-American Family History should have a general appeal, and should not be overlooked because it bears the term 'Italian-American' in the title. The information it contains, and the author's insights and techniques, apply to all ethnic groups."--THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, Vol. 151, No. 603, p. 373.

"[Carmack's] guide is highly recommended to all genealogists with Italian-American research interests. Other American genealogists will find that the sections on writing pertain to them as well."--THE NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, Vol. 128, No. 3 (July 1997).

"This book is a succinct and delightfully readable lesson..."--FEDERATION OF GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES FORUM, Vol. 10, No. 1, p. 23.