When Humbert W. Ziroli entered the mess hall for dinner on his first day at the Naval Academy, several fourth-year midshipmen surrounded him and pushed him up against the wall. “You’re our first Italian. Let’s hear you sing.” The nineteen-year-old Ziroli walked to the nearest table, swept aside several place settings, climbed atop the table, and belted out the “E lucevan le stelle” (“And the stars were shining”) aria from Puccini’s Tosca. “Nobody at Annapolis ever bothered me about being Italian again.” Asked to explain his audacious response years later, the highly decorated retired admiral credited his bravery to his family and his Worcester, Massachusetts, Italian community institutions.1 In Italian Immigration in the American West, Kenneth Scambray assembles a rich collection of personal and family stories of Italians who found themselves caught up in the quotidian contests over access to power, privilege, and prestige that flourished in...

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