Books by Michael Parenti

Waiting for Yesterday: Pages from a Street Kid’s Life

On these pages, fans of Michael Parenti's insightful political and historical writings are given a revealing picture of his early years as a youth in New York's East Harlem, along with some of the influences that helped shape his lifelong commitment to activism and social justice. Written with style and dash, "Waiting for Yesterday" is devilishly enjoyable and sometimes very touching. It provides delightful vignettes about growing up in a three-generation, working-class, Italian family, along with the amusing predicaments of a street kid's life. The book offers a cast of diverse and colorful characters, brought to life on the gritty streets where Parenti played as a boy, set against a backdrop of impoverished tenements, stoops, punitive classrooms, and a neighborhood church with its ornate celestial offerings. This book is graced with both vivid imagery and sharp political observation. Parenti challenges many of the stereotypes faced by Italian Americans and other ethnic groups. Here is a story that is both personal and broad-ranging, often sweet and occasionally bitter, the human comedy at its best.

Contents

  1. Dear Reader (Yes, I’m Talking To You)

    Part 1: The Family

  2. I Am Born Under Perilous Circumstances

  3. When Haarlem Became Harlem

  4. Grandma Maria, Magic Healer

  5. Grandma Concetta, Midwife Healer

  6. Grandma Doesn’t Always Have to Be Italian

  7. The Old Men

  8. Grandfather Captivity

  9. Discovering Italy in America

  10. Why My Name is Not Joseph

  11. “La Famiglia, La Famiglia”

    Part 2: Community and Friends

  12. “What’s a Slum?”

  13. “We Built This Country”

  14. The Struggle for Survival

  15. All Sorts of People

    Part 3: The School

  16. “Eyes Glued to the Head in Front of You”

  17. The Teacher Creature

  18. School for Patriots

  19. Producing Proper Citizens

    Part 4: Coming of Age Stuff

  20. The Natural Superiority of Girls

  21. Another Japanese War Atrocity

  22. Loving Miss Lynch

  23. The Undertaker’s Wife

    Part 5: The Street

  24. Inventing Space

  25. Fighting with Friends

  26. Italian Names, American Games

  27. Bulls and Other Hustlers

  28. Casanova’s Descendants and Satchel Too

    Part 6: Priests and Politicos

  29. Jesus Was a Roman Catholic

  30. Paradise Lost

  31. My First Protestant

  32. Someone Else to Remember

    Part 7: Benito and the Old Country

  33. Living with Mussolini

  34. On the Trail of Benito’s “Shadow”

  35. How Italy “Won” World War I

  36. How Italy Also “Won” World War II

    Part 8: Moving Along

  37. Outrunning the Dogs

  38. Bread Story

  39. Tony Faces the Irish

  40. From Tammany to Television

    Part 9: The Media Mess

  41. Italian Stereotypes

  42. Gangsters and Banksters

  43. “Ah Mafioso”

    Part 10: Goodbye Italian Harlem

  44. Italy Discovers Pizza

  45. “It’s in the Blood”

  46. Homage to Puglia

  47. Coming Home to Both Worlds