New Book Released Growing Up Italian in the 50's: or How Most of Us Became Good Wise Guys

Milwaukee, WI, May 11, 2012 --(PR.com)-- In the grand scheme of things, sixty years is not a very long time. With the explosion of technology, however, that amount of time encompasses seismic shifts in the American cultural landscape. The 1950’s in the United States were a much simpler, more naive time than today. And in the big and small cities alike, neighborhoods were ethnically defined: Italian, Irish, Polish, etc. This ingrained a deep sense of pride in ancestry and the close-knit feeling of extended families.

Highlighting the importance of family and the feeling inspired by his large, loving Italian brood, Tom DePaoli captures the experiences of growing up in a different era and its effects on those fortunate enough to have grown up in it. Today children are surrounded by video games, iPods, and personal computers, devices that remove them from the world and isolate them from friends and family. For the author, his family, and his friends, the only gadget they really had was their enthusiasm for sports and the limitless terrain of their imagination. Playing baseball in little league, football and baseball in the sandlot, and escaping to the nearby woods for adventure, they relied on experiencing life with one another rather than doing so alone through modern technology. Including colorful depictions of his mother, father, Uncle Pat, Aunt Bert, and a list of family that seems endless, this collection of short reminiscences boils over with the feelings of loyalty, closeness, and love borne of a generation whose values are seemingly lost in the never ending march of technological progress.

DePaoli’s vivid picture of his extended Italian family is a homage to a bygone era when brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents—everyone lived in the same neighborhood and were indeed a village raising the children. Engrossing and full of life, Growing Up Italian in the 50’s or How Most of Us Became Good Wise Guys: A Growing Up Memories Book is an ode to a time that was, indeed, the “Good Old Days.”

Book Information:
Growing Up Italian in the 50's: or How Most of Us Became Good Wise Guys
Author: Thomas DePaoli
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 978-1467992367
Pages: 41
Published: March 2012

About The Author
Tom DePaoli was raised in the small town of Royersford, Pennsylvania, where he was surrounded by a large Italian family. He went to the Sacred Heart Grade School, and became involved with many neighborhood sports, including baseball and football. He had a very normal childhood experience, playing with local friends daily, exploring nearby woods and holding the title of classroom mischief-maker. Some of his greatest accomplishments include batting .333 in little league, getting a perfect score on all of his final exams in third grade, lighting his grandpa’s pipe the most out of all the grand kids and setting a family record of being confined to his room by his parents for two weeks. DePaoli later received four university degrees, including his PhD, and retired as a captain in the Navy Reserve. He currently teaches at Marian University in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

For more information, review copies, or interviews please contact the author at:

Tom DePaoli
Email: Drtomd@gmail.com
Website: http://growingupmemories.com

Growing Up Italian in the 50's is available for purchase online through the author’s website, from the publisher, Amazon.com, BN.com and other online retailers. Bookstores should contact Ingram for wholesale orders.