Carlo Tresca Portrait of a Rebel

"I have sought with all my strength to elevate the moral and material conditions of the Italian workers here, and I have sought to instill in their souls the same faith in their emancipation that is alive in me. I am a soldier of the ideal."—Carlo Tresca, 1923

Arriving in America in 1904, Carlo Tresca began a nearly forty-year stretch as an active revolutionary. Nunzio Pernicone's definitive biography chronicles Tresca's larger-than-life personality, his revolutionary apprenticeship in Sulmona, Italy, and his subsequent career as fighter for liberty until his untimely death in 1943. The story of his life―as newspaper editor, labor agitator, anarchist, anti-communist, street fighter, and opponent of fascism―illuminates the lost world of Italian-American radicalism. Among friends and comrades Tresca counted revolutionary luminaries such as Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, "Big Bill" Haywood, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman, and countless sovversivi. From his work on behalf of the IWW, to his editorship of numerous papers, including Il Proletario and Il Martello, and his assassination on the streets of New York City, Tresca's passion left a permanent mark on the American map.

"Tresca's memory should be honored by all fighters for freedom today and Pernicone has done both Tresca and our movement a great service in writing this biography of an undeservingly forgotten champion of freedom."―Iain McKay, editor of An Anarchist FAQ

"One could hardly find a more thorough and finely balanced investigation into the daily fabric of Tresca's life. Pernicone has brought to light and clarified myriad twists and turns of a sleepless fight, with a no-nonsense attitude which points straight to the nitty-gritty."―Journal of Modern Italian Studies

"Based on an extraordinary amount of research in primary and secondary Italian and American sources, [Pernicone] has written the definitive biography of this charismatic and fearless rebel. For anyone interested in Italian-American studies, labor history, and radical politics―or who seeks an in-depth understanding of early twentieth century United States history―Perniconeﾒs biography of Tresca is must reading."―Spencer M. Di Scala, author of Italy: From Revolution to Republic, 1700 to the Present

Nunzio Pernicone is professor of History at Drexel University. He is the author of Italian Anarchism, 1864–1892, and editor of The Autobiography of Carlo Tresca, and has published numerous articles on Italian-American radicalism.