When analyzing the question of ehtnic identity, it is crucial to pay attention to oral history and biographical material: ethnicity is not so much a collective phenomenon as an individual one. For example, much has been written about Italian migration to the United States, but the lives of the ordinary immigrants and the rich detail of their varied experiences have been relatively ignored. We know that emigration from Italy was affected by prevailing economic, political, and social conditions, but how did the individuals themselves respond to these forces? If poverty was a major cause, why did the individual and family choose to go to America? How did the immigrant respond to the rigors of the transplantation? Only a thorough review of immigrant writings and corollary material would provide a direct answer to these and other questions. Moreover, such a study would certainly redress the stereotypes about "happy, singing Italians" that have influenced much of the research literature. Although personal narratives about the Italian immigrant experience are limited in number, the writings of Carmine Iannace, Mario Puzo, Guiseppe Prezzolini, Camillo Cianfarra, William Murray, (which are excerpted in this document) and other Italian or Italian-American writers could be studied further. (KH)