Carlo Tresca: Portrait of a Rebel

Nunzio Pernicone, Drexel University

Carlo Tresca was one of the most fascinating figures of the American left, a charismatic Italian anarchist who became a folk-hero to immigrant and native-born American workers alike.  During his adventurous career spanning nearly forty years (1904-1943), Tresca pursued a range of activities unmatched by any of his radical contemporaries: independent newspaper editor; labor agitator and organizer; civil libertarian; foremost leader of the Italian-American anti-fascist resistance, and an indomitable foe of Stalinism.  In a definitive biography Carlo Tresca: Portrait of a Rebel (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), historian Nunzio Pernicone reveals the life of this “freelance revolutionary,” provides a comprehensive exploration of the lost world of Italian American radicalism and antifascism, and illuminates forgotten chapters of the American radical and labor movements.