Growing Up Italian in God's Country: Stories From the Wilds of Pennsylvania details the struggles and triumphs of four generations of the author's family from 1891 when her great-grandfather Giuseppe Policastro emigrated from the middle Apennines east of Salerno to the virgin forests of North Central Pennsylvania to find work on the legendary logging railroad; the Buffalo and Susquehanna. Her great-grandmother Vittoria followed in 1895; walking 35 miles with four small children to get to the steamship in Naples. Interviews with family members including two great-aunts in their late nineties give this story an on-the-scene quality. Other family members tell their stories in their own words including the author's father; Sam Costa Sr.; who relates how he was pulled from the raging waters of the 1911 Austin; PA. paper mill dam break which claimed 78 lives. There are also first hand accounts from other relatives and neighbors; some now in their eighties; who talk about growing up in the Twenties and Thirties during the Depression. The author concludes with her own memories of schooldays in the Forties; of the impact of World War II on their mountain towns; and the idyllic holidays and vacations at her maternal grandparents' home deep in the Susquehannock Forest alongside the Sinnemahoning Creek. Kerosene lamps; patchwork quilts and homemade noodles against a backdrop of dirt roads; mountain streams and a one-room schoolhouse figure in the telling as do a mangy bobcat; rattlesnakes and a railroad that wound around the mountain in what was once a booming logging town. Despite the hardships recorded; the book is laced with humor.
#3661887 in Books 2014-07-14Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .60 x 6.00l; .79 #File Name: 0957502346240 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Hundred Hindu Temples of Sri Lanka: Reviewed by Hugh KarunanayakeBy Hugh KarunanayakeHinduism being a religion almost exclusively practiced by the Tamil community; it is axiomatic that most ancient Hindu temples in Sri Lanka were located in the North and East of the country where the vast majority of Tamils have lived for centuries. However it must be noted that the practice of Buddhism in Sri Lanka has incorporated; over the ages; within its traditions; the worship of gods of the Hindu pantheon such as Vishnu; Ganesha; Murugar; Pattini etc. Consequently; most Buddhist temples around the country have structured devales devoted to the worship of gods of the Hindu pantheon. This book however concentrates on the “stand alone†Hindu temples around the country of which there are many but with little or scanty information on their existence in books written in the English Language. Sanmugam Arumugam’s book is therefore a very significant contribution to the available literature in English; on the practice of Hinduism in Sri Lanka as manifested in the hallowed temples devoted to Hindu deities.The present publication consists of six sections into which the various temples have been categorised according to the deity venerated in each category viz; Vinayakar; Sivan; Murugan; Vishnu; Sakthi; and other lesser known deities. Each temple is described with much detail and description relating to the origin of the temple; its inscriptions; architecture; as well as associated legend and lore. Descriptions have been supplemented with photographs. The temples discussed date back to ancient times; mostly however from the medieval era through to the Chola period (980 to1070) and the modern era. Many Hindu temples were destroyed by foreign invasions during the 16th to 19th centuries and their cultural significance lost forever. It could be surmised that many of the temples discussed in this book have also suffered a similar fate during the ethnic conflict that enveloped the north and east of the country in the late twentieth century and shortly thereafter; a fact that makes this work all the more significant if not poignant. The book is encyclopaedic in character and is replete with a glossary; which is of invaluable assistance to the reader unfamiliar with the many religio specific terms used in it. This addition to the study of the Hindu religion in Sri Lanka will be invaluable to the student; researcher; and general reader. Thirumugam Arumugam deserves our warm approbation for reproducing this work. He has not only exercised his filial obligations but also contributed to a better understanding and appreciation of the Hindu religion as evident in the work of its votaries in Sri Lanka.Hugh Karunanayake
