Among the features of Prof. Kenneth Scambray’s new book, Italian Immigration in the American  West, 1870-1940, that stand out are the episodes he relates coming directly from his Family Papers. These are by no means gratuitous or filio-pietistic boastings about his own immigrant family.

Rather, they are integral to his overall thesis, especially regarding two major themes: first, that though early Italian immigrants displayed primary loyalty to their co-villagers rather than to Italians or Italy, they eventually, in America, began to see the virtues and benefits of affiliating with that larger whole.