Salvatore Pane’s “The Neorealist in Winter” follows two well-crafted novels: “Last Call in the City of Bridges” (2012) and “The Theory of Almost Everything” (2018). Eleven stories done in a variety of voices and formal styles feature characters who are stumbling their way through American and Italian cultures, searching for ways to use what little is left of Italian-American identity to give their lives meaning in a confusing 21st century. This collection represents the best of what young writers who still claim their Italian ancestry have to offer. Throughout the stories, we meet characters raised on video games and fast …

The predominant image of Italian Americans in today’s media comes through representation of our working-class presence. The predominant voice of protest of those images comes from Italian Americans in the middle class. Those educated out of the working class no longer connect to those who have remained working class. One result of this class mobility through education is the creation of Americans with Italian names who do not see anything wrong with writing, producing, directing and acting in films that, while protected by the First Amendment, offend other Italian Americans. For help in understanding this struggle, we need to review …