"The question of what we should study (and why} is always important and timely. This collection comes at the issue from a wide variety of directions--political, social, critical, and pedagogical."

Mary Jo Bona is Associate Professor of Italian American Studies and English at Stony Brook University, State University of New York. She is the editor of several books and the author of Claiming a Tradition: Italian American Women Writers.

Irma Maini is Assistant Professor of English at New Jersey City University.