Bøger af Anthony Valerio

"Like most of Valerio's narrative fiction, 'The Little Sailor' alchemically combines personal and popular cultural histories; but unlike the earlier work, this opus resolves the logic and emotion of its protagonist's episodic memory in a linear plot, transmuting the Little Sailor's childhood experience of his community (particularly its women) in the first section, 'Brooklyn, Rome, ' into the action of second section, 'The Bensonhurst Pigeon, ' a whimsical adaptation of Hammett's and Huston's The Maltese Falcon."--(Professor G. Guida, CUN

ANITA GARIBALDI, a Biography is the first complete and accurate story of the remarkable life and revolutionary career of Anita Garibaldi. Illiterate and poor, the daughter of a herdsman in 19th century Brazil, Anita lifted herself from a life of obscurity to one that is the stuff of romance and adventure. When she and a young Italian exile by the name of Captain Giuseppe Garibaldi met in 1839, they ran off (she was married), joined the cause of founding a Brazilian republic and went on to lead the defense of Montevideo from an Argentine siege-just one episode among many in their idealistic, nationalistic crusade in a time of immense revolutionary upheaval. She fought side-by-side with Captain then General Garibaldi while giving birth to four of their children and organizing and recruiting men and women to the republic's cause. And it was Anita who taught Garibaldi the all-important guerrilla ways of the gauchos, which served him first in defending the Roman Republic of 1849 and then in ousting the peninsula of Italy of Austrian rule in 1860. Returning to Italy in 1848 to fight for a united republican Italy, as revolution swept throughout Europe, Anita and Garibaldi were tragically separated by her untimely death the following year. Garibaldi went on to ultimate fame as the father of modern Italy-while Anita's story drifted into the mists of legend. This work brings life to an amazing, important woman."Anthony Valerio's biography of Anita Garibaldi is exactly what she would have wanted--a story told with sensitivity and eloquence and one that positions her as the active agent of her own destiny."--Professor Philip V. Cannistraro"In Valerio's hand, Anita Garibaldi emerges as the courageous but vulnerable woman from Brazil, whose singular and precious spirit was caught in the times. Anita Garibaldi is a romance discovered in history's embrace. Valerio creates the Brazilian ethos in its emerald presence as the brilliant nerve in Garibaldi's brave but short time. This biography has a texture like a Renoir film, broad and expansive, swimming along in voluble seas."--Afaa M. Weaver, poet, professor"Valerio's biography salutes the legend that Anita Garibaldi has elsewhere and may be too someday become."--South Eastern Latin Americanist"Anthony Valerio's genre-crossing biography provides unique insight into Anita Garibaldi's 'short, glorious life.' Valerio writes with a novelist's dedication to character and an historian's dedication to the past. An unusaul book for a revolutionary woman."-Janet R. Jacobson, Director Center for Research on Women. Barnard College"È merito di Anthony Valerio aver restituito ad Anita la sua personalità e la sua vita, unita ma non confusa con la biografia e il mito di Garibaldi" --EMILIO GENTILE

The Conception of a Great Love-"The process by which a great love begins is as hidden as the birth of the universe or the conception of a human being. Here Anthony Valerio, who has lived it, allows us to see it without violating its mystery. This is his story of the improbable but profound recognition that ignited between him -- an "Olive" man, Italian-American writer -- and the acclaimed, doomed Black novelist and activist Toni Cade Bambara. It is so delicate, touching, suspenseful -- I hardly breathed the whole time." "amba12" (New York, NY USA) "Anthony Valerio is in top form in this moving, funny non-fiction novella about the improbable relationship between two middle-aged writers, one Italian American, one African American, both memorable characters whose romance is one for the ages. Valerio has a gift for insight into human emotion. He taps into his characters marrow, their history, aspirations, frustrations, and hopes, as if they were (and here they sometimes are) his own." --G. Guida, professor, CUNY "The substance of this memoir is what makes us human when we come home from struggling in the world. Valerio gives us home as the heart within the heart, the place that is both vulnerable and free. Moreover, it is the place that is true." --Afaa Weaver--author & scholarOne Unforgettable Night"A tender, funny, ironic, and revealing book, about unexpected encounters, emotions that can take us unaware, and how dislocations from our usual surroundings to unknown places and people can teach us about our lives. Valerio writes with a light and deft touch, but what he recounts is heart-felt and very real." Professor Rebecca West, University of Chicago

The incomparable Lefty--married, red-hair, very sexy--has two cornerstones of the Italian culture talking between themselves: the gangster & the poet. How it all is resolved is, at once, exciting & beautiful. Here Valerio, preceding the popular TV series "The Sopranos", uses the device of the therapist--but in this case the gangster hands out advice as well as bullets.

The life of one of the Great Lovers of all time, John Dante lived the life of a bachelor's fantasy, going from his humble beginnings in a small Italian village to the Playboy Mansion, where he lived for 26 years with Hugh Hefner and 40 of the most beautiful women in the world. John Dante was a key figure in the first years of the Playboy empire, hiring Bunnies, training Bunny Mothers, and managing the Playboy jet. He befriended some of the most popular and important figures of our time, including Hugh Hefner, whom John paints as a "fascinating, complex man," as well as Shel Silverstein, Lenny Bruce, Linda Lovelace, Don Adams, James Caan and myriad other personalities and stars. A first hand, inside look. An important book from the life of the second-in-command. "This is a highly original way of telling the story of John Dante, self-made namesake of the more famous Dante. Using the medieval poet's vision of Hell as a kind of running parallel narrative, Anthony Valerio weaves a fascinating tale of ambition, excess, friendship, and rocking good times back in the day of the Playboy Clubs, replete with Bunnies, orgies, and hedonistic fun. Valerio writes with verve and compassion about men and women who ran after their dreams and their pleasures with abandon, living as if youth, potency, and beauty would never end. They did, of course, and this gives a poignant quality to the book. This is also the life story of an Italian American who came up from very humble origins to the heights of Hugh Hefner's sexy Never Never Land. I didn't always like these players' choices, and the machismo of that world is sometimes hard to take. Women are prized for their long, smooth legs, their willingness to service the men, their decorative essence, all of which is not the most admirable way of viewing women. But those were the times and those were the values that dominated Hef's universe. John Dante did have his own moral code, unusual as it was, and he was above all a good and faithful friend. Valerio is so expert at making us feel the lives of others, even those very far from our own experiences, and his colloquial style is just right. It seems that he wrote this book out of friendship, and so it is ultimately a kind, compassionate book. I am looking forward to many more tales told by the master storyteller, Anthony Valerio!" Rebecca West, professor, University of Chicago

The Screenplay of the celebrated JOHN Dante's Inferno, about an immigrant's rise to second-in-command int he Playboy Empire. he life of one of the Great Lovers of all time, John Dante lived the life of a bachelor's fantasy, going from his humble beginnings in a small Italian village to the Playboy Mansion, where he lived for 26 years with Hugh Hefner and 40 of the most beautiful women in the world. John Dante was a key figure in the first years of the Playboy empire, hiring Bunnies, training Bunny Mothers, and managing the Playboy jet. He befriended some of the most popular and important figures of our time, including Hugh Hefner, of whom John paints as a "fascinating, complex man," as well as Shel Silverstein, Lenny Bruce, Don Adams, James Caan and myriad other personalities and stars. A first hand, inside look. An important book from the life of the second-in-command.

This startling portrait of the great writer of children's books, songs and plays Shel Silverstein presents him in a rare humane light. What he was like as a man and a friend. What interested and inspired him. Some of the women in his life. The loving often hilarious relationship between Shel Silverstein & Anthony Valerio depicted in these pages entertains as much as informs. Take a ground-breaking walk beside them through Greenwich Village on a routine work day. Their stops, their conversations. Meet a Shel Silverstein Not (Only) for Kids. A university professor recently wrote: "Readers will be riveted by the portrait of the beloved children's author that emerges in these pages. Not exactly what they may have expected." Lending beauty and life to this charming memoir of an historical time and place are never before seen photos by the great graphic artist and photographer Dave Barry. About Anthony Valerio, Shel Silverstein wrote: "He knows his people. He knows his craft. He gets in, tells his story & gets out. It's what good writing should be." "Shel was one of my people. I was one of his people. This is our story."--A.V. About Anthony Valerio critics are saying: Best Sellers: "...He really knows his history and his subject very well. No less important is the fact thst he is a first-rate writer who can really tell a good story..."Los Angeles Times: "...Valerio writes with energy & a rich style and has an unusually good eye for detail....""Baltimore Sun: "...Anthony Valerio's fiction bears likeness to our best dreams, when the fantastical elements of the subconscious play themselves out in a vivid replica of reality..." Contributor NY Times Book Review & Vogue Magazine--"Anthony Valerio writes a prose like no one else's. It reminds me of nothing so much as Chaplan's walk: the funny dignity, the sly humility, the fastidious pathos." "Gripping, Literate, Naughty, Bawdy"

The Life and Work of pioneering physician Ignaz P. Semmelweis, who discovered the causes and means of prevention of the pandemic of his day, childbed fever. Called the "Father of Antisepsis," he was largely ignored, placed in an asylum and murdered. He was a man who did good for women."His life was a beneficial example for all mankind." Kurt Vonnegut"To be sure, Semmelweis was a pioneering physician and scientist whose accomplishments should be studied for their contributions to science. But he was also a feminist, and his work should be understood in that vein, also."--Ellen Nerenberg, Hollis Professor of Romance Languages & Literatures, Wesleyan UniversityLooking at and understanding someone like Semmelweis on a deep level and how he combated prejudices and prevailing thoughts and changed the way medicine is practiced is as relevant today as it was in the 1840s.-Prakash Sampath, M.D. President, Rhode Island Neurological Institute.Readers feel like they are with Semmelweis in the hospital wards where women are dying mysteriously of puerperal fever. We feel with him as he hunts down the cause of the disease with observation and deductive reasoning. We share the exhilarating joy of discovering the cause and then, once the establishment resists the findings, and rejects the easy prevention of the disease, Semmelweis's initial outrage and anger-- ---Eric Goldman, professor, University of ConnecticutOur history, so full of tragedies like his, unrealized potential: failed reformers and inventors, scientists and artists embittered and ignored, driven to early death. -Akös Őstor, professor, author, filmmakerRead this book, men and women alike. It is one of Valerio's best.-Rebecca West, emeritus, University of ChicagoFrom the author: I wrote the last draft of this book in the winter of 2019, more than a year before the current pestilence, which kills indiscriminately, and more than 170 years after the one witnessed and suffered by Dr. Semmelweis, namely childbed fever, killing hordes of new mothers and, often, their babies. Wash Your Hands! He exclaimed, to little avail.-Anthony Valerio. 20/20 ... the hope is that today, around the world, at this moment, when one is passing and using surely one of millions of hand sanitizers, a thought can possibly go out to Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis and a fuller understanding, and appreciation, of his life and work. thank you, Anthony Valerio

This single volume contains 36 stories of the hit series IMMIGRANTS according to Anthony Valerio. There are riveting portraits of famous and not-so-famous men and women who sought refuge in countries not their own. Travel with Valentino, Caruso, Garibaldi. The neighborhood butcher and house painter. Top notch critics, authors and teachers such as Annie Gottlieb, Rose Romano and Edvige Giunta contribute memorable stories and memories. This volume is also illustrated. Meet Meena, refugee from Afghanistan. Orfeo from Italy, Lucky from Romania. The author says: "...the individual pieces contained herein illustrate how in fact and imagination we all derive from one another, learn from one another, share with one another.""Valerio's knowledge of Italian experience and his scholarship are quite evident. He really knows both his history and his subject very well. No less important is the fact that he is a first-rate writer who can really tell a good story."--Bestsellers

Dante in Love is a modern re-telling of the immortal love story of Dante and Beatrice. The power and beauty of their original story of unrequited love shines through with new insights and accessible prose. A Love Story for the Ages."The mixing of the two voices, the translator and the explicator, works wonderfully. A winner, very good stuff, really." Giuseppe Mazzotta, Sterling Professor in the Humanities for Italian, Yale University."I just kept on reading it right through even though I had read the original many times. Anthony Valerio's version really makes it new.--Rebecca West, William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Service Professor Emerita, University of Chicago.

Anita Garibaldi, warrior, patriot on two continents, wife, mother. A Woman for the Ages.