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Una Storia Segreta Lawrence DiStasi
Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Interment During WW11
Heyday Books 2001, lst 325 pages
Softcover in good+ condition no dust jacket
Text is clean and unmarked, binding is tight. Cover is good+
This story of the forgotten Italian-Americans during the war years has been obscured by the story of the Japanese-American internment, this story was officially denied, and then simply repressed.
WWII was a time of fear and uncertainty for Americans of Italian descent. Wartime regulations required that 600,000 Italian "resident aliens" carry photo-identity cards, restricted their freedom of movement, and forced an estimated 10,000 along the West Coast to relocate. Local police searched homes for guns, cameras, and short-wave radios. Over 1500 Italian resident aliens were arrested for curfew, travel, and contraband violations, and some 250 were imprisoned in military camps for up to two years. Even some naturalized citizens had to leave their homes and businesses because the military decided that they were too dangerous to remain in strategic areas. | 
