The 1930s

J. Bret Bennington is Professor of Geology and Chair of the Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability at Hofstra University. He is the author of scientific papers in the fields of evolutionary paleoecology, historical biology, and sedimentology, and recently co-edited and contributed to a collection of papers titled Learning from the Impacts of Superstorm Sandy. In addition to geoscience courses at Hofstra, he teaches courses in the history of evolutionary thought and Charles Darwin.

Zenia Sacks DaSilva is Professor Emerita of Spanish Language and Literature at Hofstra University. She is the author of many well-known textbooks and articles in her field, and has edited three volumes of scholarly essays: The Hispanic Connection: Spanish and Spanish-American Literature in the Arts of the World; Don Quixote: The First 400 Years; and, with Gregory Pell, At Whom Are We Laughing? Humor in Romance Language Literatures. She is past president of the Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, and was decorated for her scholarly work by King Juan Carlos of Spain in 1978.

Michael D’Innocenzo is Professor of History, a founding member of the Hofstra Center for Civic Engagement, and the Harry H. Wachtel Distinguished Teaching Professor for the Study of Nonviolent Social Change at Hofstra University. He has been a weekly newspaper columnist and has dozens of historical publications, including Immigration and Ethnicity – American Society: “Melting Pot” or “Salad Bowl”? and William Cullen Bryant and His America. During the 1990s, he was consultant and commentator for the PBS documentary, The Italian-Americans. In 2008, the American Historical Association gave D’Innocenzo its Eugene Asher National College Distinguished Teaching Award.

Stanislao G. Pugliese is Professor of Modern European History and Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies at Hofstra University, USA. A specialist on the Italian anti-fascist Resistance and Italian Jews, he is the author, editor and translator of a dozen books on Italian and Italian American history, including Bitter Spring: A Life of Ignazio Silone. With William J. Connell, he is editing The Routledge History of Italian Americans, due to be published in 2017. He is currently working on a new book, Dancing on a Volcano in Naples: Scenes from the Siren City.