CLOSET ITALIANS:

There are many reasons why people with Italian blood have Non-Italian Names.  But, that shouldn't be an excuse for not recognizing their true ethnic background.

As Daniel Webster said over 150 years ago, "The dignity of history consists in reciting events with truth and accuracy, and in presenting their actions in an interesting and instructive form.  The first element in history, therefore, is truthfulness, and this truthfulness must be displayed in a concrete form."  Otherwise, history has no meaning, and can even be destructive. 

To this end, CLOSET ITALIANS has been meticulously researched over the last four years and will withstand the most vigorous vetting.  Writer and scholar Erik Amfitheatrof, an Illustrious Italian with a Non-Italian Name, made this additional point, "The aim of any social history is to instruct as well as entertain."

CLOSET ITALIANS also delivers on this lofty goal.  The book traces the last 2,000 years of history through the lives of 175 Illustrious Individuals on 358 pages.  The first entry is Vitruvius, who was born about 90 B.C. and wrote the most important book in the history of architecture and engineering.  The last entry is Alicia Keys, who was born in 1981 of an Italian mother, and is one of the hottest---and most respected---singers alive today.

Even a casual reading of CLOSET ITALIANS leads to the inescapable conclusion that the contributions of Italians and Italian-Americans over the centuries is substantially greater than had been believed prior to its publication.

Some of the most interesting Illustrious Italians with Non-Italian Names are the individuals who have been co-opted--which is defined as "Taking into a group (for a faction. movement or culture).  To absorb, assimilate, take over, appropriate." 

For example, John Cabot, the "English Explorer" who discovered Newfoundland was Italian, as was Sir Arthur Sullivan (on his mother's side), the music composer of the team of Gilbert & Sullivan, the most revered and successful comic-opera writing team in history.

Also, Jose Greco, the greatest "Spanish Dancer" of all time, was Italian, as was Iron Eyes Cody, the "American Indian" made famous by the anti-littering campaign of the seventies.  Remember the single tear rolling down his anguished face as he observed the pollution around him?