Immigrant: A Journey to the American Dream is the story of all immigrants who left poverty and hopelessness behind and came to America, dreaming of a better life. It is the life story of little Totò, a poor Sicilian immigrant, who comes to America in his late teens and, through hard work and determination, goes on to live the American dream. The book proceeds from his childhood to his first experiences in American factories, time in the US Army, and his successful academic career. On the whole, Totò's boyhood is not a happy one after having lost his mother at the tender age of three. Virtually left to fend for himself, he turns into a delinquent little boy-skipping school; stealing from his family and neighbors; and going around the countryside, looking for and exploding live ordnance left behind during WWII. To get him off the streets, his parents send him to a boarding school run by the charitable Dominican monks. When the family immigrates to the States, he finds work at a hosiery mill and then at a steel plant while learning English at the local evening school. He is later drafted in the US Army where fellow recruits make fun of his foreign accent. What riles him the most is when they call him Shorty. But soon, he accepts the fact that he is indeed short. The acceptance of himself for what and who he is literally changes his life. It turns him into a self-confident young man ready to face whatever challenge comes his way. With this can-do attitude, he goes on to college and becomes a successful university professor.
About the Author: Salvatore DiMaria is an emeritus professor of Italian from the University of Tennessee. He has written several books and dozens of articles on the Italian Renaissance. He received his early education in the Italian public schools. Born in 1942 of a poor Sicilian family, he immigrated to the US in early 1961. Not knowing a word of English, he took whatever factory work he could that didn't require knowledge of the language. While working at odd jobs, he went to night school, eventually earning the GED-the equivalent of a high school diploma. He was then drafted in the US Army where he served honorably for two years. While in the service, he took college courses offered at the base by the NCSU Extension Program. By the time he left the army, he had earned enough credits to be admitted as a sophomore at the NCSU in Raleigh and, a year later, as a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill. Upon graduation from UNC, he went to the University of Wisconsin where he earned the PhD in Italian. In Madison, he met and married his wife Lynn, and the two began to raise their family. In 1985, he took a teaching position at the University of Tennessee where he taught for the next thirty-five years. Although technically retired, he continues to teach part-time while working on a novel set in the 1950s Sicily.