The Garden of Nations: My Essay on Vanzetti in Plymouth Speaks Italian, Though I Do Not

     My fascination with Bartolomeo Vanzetti's years in Plymouth, Mass. is going international.

           A version of an article I wrote more than a decade ago for a book about Plymouth history ("Beyond Plymouth Rock") has been published in the Italian language book "1927-2017 Sacco E Vanzetti." The essay appears under the title "L'indifferenza di Plymouth alla causa internationale."  

          I don't read Italian. But last year, after "Suosso's Lane," my novel about Vanzetti's life in Plymouth, where he was living at the time of his arrest, was published, Italian editor and historian Luigi Botta asked me to contribute a piece for a collection of essays he was preparing in recognition of the 90th anniversary of the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti. I offered to trim the article I had written for the Plymouth history anthology to focus wholly on the attitude of the town's old guard to an internationally famous case involving one of its immigrant residents. I originally titled the piece "Trial of the Century: Local Amnesia," but the version need the word 'Plymouth' in the title. Hence the title that appears in the newly published volume, a thick paperback consisting of at least two dozen contributions by different authors. 

         Needless to say, the case of the Italian immigrants who became international symbols of the oppression of the working class by rich and powerful, retains its hold on the Italian public, particularly those who share the general egalitarian orientation of the political radicals who died almost a century ago.

         I'm grateful to Senor Botta for including my work in this fine book. http://www.istitutoresistenzacuneo.it/14?rivista=32

          I'm also grateful to the editors of two literary journals for including my work this work.

          My poem on "On Being Paris" is appearing in the first issue of a new literary journal called "Guinevere Revue." I wrote the poem almost two years ago, after the Charlie Hedbo shootings shocked the world. The poem points to terrorist attacks in third world countries, such as Lebanon, that did not receive the same attention or cause so many of us to pledge support. I'm happy to see the poem in print. The message, unfortunately, still applies.
          This journal does not have an electronic edition. For anyone interested in this new lit mag here's a link on Amazon: https://www.createspace.com/6711436
           You can also read the poem here at:  http://prosegarden.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-garden-of-humanity-on-being-paris.html


            Finally, my short story about troubling days for a substitute high school teacher is up on the online journal "Beneath the Rainbow." The editors of this attractive online journal did a great job designing a page for the story and were very generous with space for a bio, including publication information and book cover photos. Here's the link:
http://beneaththerainbow.com/back-to-school/