The Deeds of My Fathers
How My Grandfather and Father Built New York and Created the Tabloid World of Today
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- $26.99
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- $26.99
Publisher Description
This engrossing saga begins when Generoso Pope, Sr., just 15, flees Italy and his domineering father, sailing to America with only pennies in his pockets. He passes through Ellis Island in 1906 and soon finds work in the sand pits of Long Island, just as this coarse sand, mixed with cement, is becoming New York City's key building block. He becomes foreman, then president of a company supplying material for landmarks like Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center. Intent on becoming a kingmaker, he also constructs a media empire, becoming publisher of the Italian-American newspaper, Il Progresso. His endorsement is soon sought by politicians aspiring to become mayor of New York City and president of the United States.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Once considered the black sheep of America's publications, the National Enquirer is celebrated on the eve of its 60th anniversary by Pope's powerful biography of its creators, the family patriarchs. The book, which sometimes reads like a straightforward Puzo sequel, chronicles the arrival of Generoso Pope, the author's grandfather on these shores with $10 and no prospects; Gene, Generoso's son and publisher of the scandalous tabloid; and the realization of the ultimate American immigrant dream. Its chapters detail the Pope men's achievements, the grandfather's construction firm building some of Gotham's landmarks and the father's grooming of a struggling paper into a major publication. Crowded with presidents, celebrities, and mobsters, this bio of ambitious alpha males, in a dysfunctional clan worthy of a soap opera, is among the best portraits of Italian-American life to appear in some time.
