Waiting For Yesterday: Pages From a Street Kid's Life

by Michael Parenti

Literary Nonfiction. Memoir. On these pages, fans of Michael Parenti's insightful political and historical writings are given a revealing picture of his early years as a youth in New York's East Harlem, along with some of the influences that helped shape his lifelong commitment to activism and social justice. Written with style and dash, WAITING FOR YESTERDAY is devilishly enjoyable and sometimes very touching. It provides delightful vignettes about growing up in a three-generation, working-class, Italian family, along with the amusing predicaments of a street kid's life. The book offers a cast of diverse and colorful characters, brought to life on the gritty streets where Parenti played as a boy, set against a backdrop of impoverished tenements, stoops, punitive classrooms, and a neighborhood church with its ornate celestial offerings. This book is graced with both vivid imagery and sharp political observation. Parenti challenges many of the stereotypes faced by Italian Americans and other ethnic groups. Here is a story that is both personal and broad-ranging, often sweet and occasionally bitter, the human comedy at its best.

Genres: United States

170 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2013

About the author

Michael John Parenti, Ph.D. (Yale University) is an American political scientist, academic historian and cultural critic who writes on scholarly and popular subjects. He has taught at universities as well as run for political office. Parenti is well known for his Marxist writings and lectures. He is a notable intellectual of the American Left and he is most known for his criticism of capitalism and American foreign policy.

Reviews

[danny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda weird. I skimmed a lot of it. The prose is not great and it reads like your great uncle rambling off the cuff. There are some good stories in here, but there are also some stories that I really could have done without. When the tone sounds like your great uncle you really don’t want to hear about sexual escapades in poorly written detail. Just not for me.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute, you gotta love Parenti.

[Jaci]

Not a big memoir person but I love Parenti and how passionately he defends Italians

[Lemmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really engaging walk through the 20th century that really allows the reader to live vicariously as Parenti for a short period of time. As someone who is very interested in Parenti's books, this was nice change of pace.

[Bob Manschot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a political analysis like his other books. It is a story about his youth and gives an insight to the life and culture of Italian-American immigrants. Beautifully written and rich with humor.

[Joni · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Dr. Michael Parenti's youth, a child of southern Italian immigrants growing up in the slums of NYC's East Harlem. Funny, touching, insightful and afterward you fully understand the development of his political philosophy and brilliant mind.

[Jean Becconsall · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was informative about Italians arriving in this country and the work they did, how they were treated in the schools they attended, but I wasn't thrilled with the book

[Joy H.]

Added 3/19/14.