Biography

Interests

Modern and Contemporary American Literature; 20th Century US Urban History; Ethnic Studies; Italian American Studies; Film and Television Studies; Creative Nonfiction.

Education

PhD, American Studies, Brown University (1990)

Courses

Introduction to American Cultures

Film and Literature: Immigrant Stories

Television and Literature: Ethnic Comedy, Family Drama

Interracial Dynamics in America

America in the Sixties

Publications

Books

Rebel Girl and the Godfather: New York City’s Italians and the Fight for Civil Rights. State University of New York Press, 2025.

Amazon / SUNY Press / Read an excerpt

Made In America: Self-Styled Success from Horatio Alger to Oprah Winfrey. University of Minnesota Press, 1997.

Amazon / Minnesota UP

Selected Articles

“Beyond White Ethnicity.” American Quarterly 58 (2006): 1239-1247.

“Saint Oprah.” Modern Fiction Studies 52 (2006): 169-178.

“Mr. Secrets.” Transition 61 (1993): 33-45.

“The State of Rap.” Social Text 34 (1993): 53-84.

“Antihumanism and the Critique of American Studies.” New Literary History 23 (1992): 281-306.

“Postmodernity.” American Quarterly 44 (1992): 146-54.

Interviews

Italian American Podcast, “Italian Americans and the Fight for Civil Rights”