Ralph G. Giordano is a professional architect born in New York. Recently retired to New Jersey, he has authored nine books on American culture and served as a series editor for six other innovative publications. Giordano is a member of the Authors Guild. He earned a master’s degree from the City University of New York and a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the New York Institute of Technology. Giordano’s work has been featured in The New York Times and New York Daily News, among other publications. In 2007, he was honored with the prestigious Council of the Arts Humanities Award on Staten Island (COAHSI), recognizing his long commitment to the arts and humanities within New York City. Inducted into the College of Staten Island Alumni Hall of Fame, an additional honor came with the President’s Dolphin Award for Outstanding Service and Contribution to the College of Staten Island. Faculty Appreciation Awards for excellence in teaching came from Student/Athletes of Kean University in New Jersey and the Student/Athletes at the College of Staten Island (CUNY). He has taught as an adjunct professor in various disciplines of World History, American Studies, and Architecture at the College of Staten Island, Wagner College, Kean University, and Union County College. In 2011, he was featured in a BBC Radio documentary and has been guest on many other radio programs.
Italian Culture in America: The Immigrants describes the nationwide anti-Italian discrimination, and often violent retribution, experienced by millions of immigrants during the formative years of an industrializing United States, from 1880 to 1930. This carefully presented work reveals the presence of Italian culture provided by hardworking, family-oriented Italians who bravely left their homeland in search of opportunity in America. Looking to his own Italian heritage, Giordano identifies so many of the “taken for granted” aspects of American life that have distinct Italian roots. Many creative innovations include banking, radio, the telephone, aeronautics, entertainment, and even the Statue of Liberty, among dozens of others. The study establishes that negative media stereotypes created by Hollywood are misunderstood and very often purely fictitious. In contrast, Giordano unfolds a factual story documenting the growing assimilation by Italians ingrained within all aspects of American culture. Italian Culture in America: The Immigrants will certainly fascinate those interested in Italian-American history. It will also help tell the story of all immigrants who entered and settled in the United States.
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