Fred L. Gardaphe directs the Italian-American Studies Program at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is author of Italian Signs, American Streets:The Evolution of Italian American Narrative, LeavingLittle Italy: Essaying Italian American Culture, DagoesRead: Tradition and the Italian/American Writer, and Moustache Pete is Dead!: Italian/American Oral TraditionPreserved in Print.