Gans, Herbert. The Urban Villagers: Group and Class in the Life of Italian-Americans.

New York: The Free Press, Inc. 1962. In the Introduction, Gans writes, “The West End was not a charming neighborhood of ‘noble peasants’ living in an exotic fashion, resisting the mass-produced homogeneity of American culture and overflowing with a cohesive sense of community. It was a run-down area of people struggling with the problems of low income, poor education, and related difficulties. Even so, it was by and large a good place to live.”