About the Author

Paul L. Gentile was born in Aliquippa, a steel town in southwestern Pennsylvania. During college he worked in the steel mill, and after graduating from California University of Pennsylvania began a thirty-two year career in education. He has an M.A. degree from Duquesne University and a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. He contributes as a guest columnist to the local newspaper, writing on economic and workplace issues. He is the author of the travel memoir Dolce Far Niente: Sweet Doing Nothing. He and his wife live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Reviews

Young Salvatore Ciccone leaves Pacentro, Italy in 1902 to come to work in the mines of Colorado where he meets and marries Maria Grosso. When things go horribly wrong with the Starkville mines, they move to Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, where he works in the steel mills. Together they raise five children and create community despite hardship, making their own private paradise. It�s a family saga and an American story of immigration and assimilation where individuality and character are not lost. . . .
"Through fine writing and a remarkable level of research, Paul L. Gentile�s book is a compelling read, a powerful reminder of our shared history as American immigrants. Salvatore and Maria: Finding Paradise is so dense with small, powerful moments you will be impelled to seek out stories from your own forebears. Gentile has created a work that richly honors those who came before." �Karen Kotrba, author of She Who Is Like a Mare: Poems of the Frontier Nursing Service