No one represents the Italian American journey from undesirable outsiders to embraced citizens better than Frank Sinatra. From impoverished beginnings in an immigrant household to world renown as "Chairman of the Board," he beat the odds to become one of the most influential and best-loved artists of the twentieth century. Sinatra's symbolic role to the millions of Italian American immigrants who looked up to him as proof of the American dream was far-reaching. From teenage crooner to civil rights activist to Reagan Republican, his shifting identity resonated deeply in Italian American culture. Now, a gathering of distinguished historians, journalists and critics explore Sinatra's impact on American culture, from questions of politics and civil rights to Italian mothering, morality, and ethnic stereotyping. These insights place Sinatra at the fulcrum of many controversial and timely issues that lend his influence a new depth and power, not only musically but in a broad historical context.
Acknowledgments* Inroduction: Longing, Loss, and Nostalgia—Stanislao G. Pugliese
• Part I. History and Politics
• Frank Sinatra and the American Century—Douglas Brinkley
• Frank Sinatra's House: Politics and Passion—Joseph Dorinson
• Frank Sinatra and Civil Rights—Leonard Mustazza
• Frank Sinatra and Presidential Politics—Michael Nelson
• Part II. Identity and Representation * Why the Bobby-Soxers?—Janice L. Booker
• Playing the Big Room: Sinatra, the Fontainebleu Hotel, and the Architecture of Inclusion—Gaspar Gonzalez
• Someone to Watch Over Him: Images of Gender and Class Vulnerability in Early Sinatra—Rob Jacklosky
• State of Grace: Sinatra and American Charisma—T. H. Adamowski
• Part III. Italian American Culture
• Sinatra at the Table: Scenes from "Patsy's" Restaurant—Joe Scognamillo and Sal Scognamillo
• Mammissimo: Dolly and Frankie Sinatra and the Italian American Mother/Son Thing—John Gennari
• Urbane Villager—Thomas Ferraro
• Passing for Italian: Crooners and Gangsters in Cross-Over Culture—John Gennari
• Sinatra, The Name Ending in a Vowel, or, "The Voice"as Signifier and Symptom of Italian Americanness—Pellegrino A. D'Acierno
• I Get No Kick from Assimilation: Or,"My" Frank Sinatra Problem—Rocco Marinaccio
• Prophet, Padrone, Postmodern Prometheus: Moral Images of Sinatra in Contemporary Culture—Edmund Santurri
Overview
No one represents the Italian American journey from undesirable outsiders to embraced citizens better than Frank Sinatra. From impoverished beginnings in an immigrant household to world renown as "Chairman of the Board," he beat the odds to become one of the most influential and best-loved artists of the twentieth century. Sinatra's symbolic role to the millions of Italian American immigrants who looked up to him as proof of the American dream was far-reaching. From teenage crooner to civil rights activist to ...