Name: Russell Shorto discusses his memoir Smalltime - McCandless
Start: 2021-07-26T19:30:00-04:00
End: 2021-07-26T21:00:00-04:00
Location: Riverstone Books

Russell Shorto discusses his memoir Smalltime - McCandless

Pittsburgh's premier independent bookstore, Riverstone Booksfeatures a well-curated selection of literary and popular fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books.  In addition, we offer a variety of gift items, greeting cards, and children’s puzzles, educational games, and literary stuffed animals. Our experienced booksellers are voracious readers who love to match people to books they will love.

Riverstone Books

We are delighted to welcome Russell Shorto to Riverstone to discuss his memoir of his family and growing up in Johnstown.

Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the MobFamily secrets emerge as a best-selling author dives into the history of the mob in small-town America. Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a city &quot;in its brawny postwar prime,&quot; is where &quot;Little Joe&quot; Regino and Russ Shorto build a local gambling empire on the earnings of factory workers for whom placing a bet-on a horse or pool game, pinball or &quot;tip seal&quot;-is their best shot at the American dream. Decades later, Russell Shorto grew up knowing that his grandfather was a small-town mobster, but never thought to write about him, in keeping with an unspoken family vow of silence. Then a distant cousin prodded him: You gotta write about it. Smalltime, the story of Shorto&#x27;s search for his namesake, delves into the world of the small-town mob, an intricate web that spanned midcentury America, stitching together cities from Yonkers to Fresno. A riveting immigrant story, Smalltime is also deeply personal, as the author&#x27;s ailing father, Tony, becomes his partner in piecing together their patriarch&#x27;s troubled past. Moving, wryly funny, and richly detailed, Smalltime is an irresistible memoir by a masterful writer of historical narrative&quot;--Author of :Revolution Song: The Story of America&#x27;s Founding in Six Remarkable LivesDescartes&#x27; Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and ReasonAmsterdam: A History of the World&#x27;s Most Liberal CityThe Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America

Russell Shorto discusses his memoir Smalltime - McCandless

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Russell Shorto discusses his memoir Smalltime - McCandless

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