Unto the Sons (1992)

A New York Times Notable Book

The New York Times
"Reads like a good novel...As Talese meticulously reconstructs his family chronicle, a larger dramatic portrait of an entire region and way of life emerges."

USA Today
"Richly human...Talese interweaves the history of his family's private lives with the public history of contemporary Italy, the wars and leaders and economic forces that sent so many Italians across the sea to work hard and suffer the indignities of prejudice in a new land...Talese is able to make this all-important personal story--where he came from--significant for the rest of us as well."

Chicago Tribune Book World
"Unto the Sons is a triumph...Place and time are summoned directly and sensuously out of the memory of Gay Talese, who begins this story as a first-person narrator, creating a voice, an entirely trustworthy witness. But soon he vanishes gracefully into the telling of the tale, a tale of others...The story begins as a personal account but ends as a communal one, a shared experience."

Vogue
"Brilliantly evoked...The book is a sweeping saga tracing the fate of the Taleses and their far-flung family during World War II."

People
"A dazzling self-examination on a large canvas. Perhaps nobody but Talese, a demon for research and a natural storyteller, could have pulled it off...Unto the Sons is thick with revealing incident and colorful character."

The Washington Post Book World
"An Italian Roots."

Norman Mailer
"This book gives all the pleasure one associates with reading a major novel."

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