“Analyzing Italian American history from the vantage point of sport, Gerald Gems brilliantly contextualizes a still evolving ethnic identity. Iconic Italian American sports figures elicit telling commentary, but so do representative men and women. Specialists and general readers will find the volume accessible, interesting, and significant.”—William Simons, Professor, History, SUNY Oneonta, and Director/Editor, The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture

“Professor Gems fine book digs deeply into Italian American experiences in general and Italian American sporting experiences in particular. He shows how through sport a people, often beleaguered by class exploitation and nativism, used sport to construct and maintain a meaningful sense of community and built cultural bridges to other ethnic groups. Meanwhile, he does not let us forget the very real contributions to American sport history by superbly talented Italian American male and female athletes.”— Joel S. Franks, San Jose State University

"Gerald Gems has written a beautiful book. Through painstaking research and an obvious passion for the subject, he traces in much detail and in a highly interesting fashion the participation of Italians in American sport. A must read for anyone desiring to know the complete story of the evolution of sport in this country.”— David K. Wiggins, author of Glory Bound: Black Athletes in a White America

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