Books/Films/Projects

Most of my projects involve history, particularly the history of immigrants. I’m interested in the culture that immigrants bring with them to their new homes and how they integrate that culture into their new lives:

My latest book Miners, Milkers & Merchants reveals the lives of Swiss-Italians immigrants who migrated to Australia and California during the gold rush years of the mid-nineteenth century.Marin City Memories contains excerpts from oral histories of Blacks who migrated from the Deep South to Marin City during World War II to work in the shipyards.

When I learned that descendants of Sicilian fisherman who brought their traditions with them from the little town of Porticello to San Francisco still celebrate the Madonna and the Blessing of the Fishing Fleet, I gathered their stories of the Madonna del Lume Celebration for the Library of Congress Local Legacy Project.

Oral histories of Marin County landscape artists led to a film: of MarinMindScapes: Stories of Art and Wellness.