Joseph A. Amato

Joseph A. Amato (born 1938) is an American author and scholar. Amato was a history professor and university dean of local and regional history. He has written extensively on European intellectual and cultural history, and the history of Southwestern Minnesota. Since retiring, he has continued publishing history books, as well as five poetry collections and his first novel.

Amato in 2017

Education

Amato received his B.A. in history from the University of Michigan in 1960; his M.A. in history from the Université Laval, Québec, in 1963; and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Rochester in 1970. He also did post-doctoral study in the history of European cultures with Professor Eugen Weber.

Teaching career

After teaching high school at Royal Oak, Michigan, Amato was an instructor at Binghamton University and the University of California, Riverside. In 1969 Amato began teaching at the new Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) in Marshall, Minnesota (originally Southwest Minnesota State College). He was a founder and chair of the History Department, one of the architects of the university’s Rural Studies curriculum in the 1970s, and a principal founder of the Society for Local and Regional History.[1] He established Crossings Press and, in conjunction with the Society for Local and Regional History, supported over seventy publications on demographic, environmental and geographic facets in Southwest Minnesota.[2] Amato retired from SMSU in 2003 as Professor Emeritus of Rural and Regional Studies and of History.

Writing career

Amato discussing his work

Collections of his writings, notebooks, interviews, and reviews of his writing are held at SMSU's regional research and history center and the Literary Manuscript Collections of the Elmer Anderson Library, at the University of Minnesota.[3] In addition to numerous reviews and articles in scholarly and popular journals, Amato's writing falls roughly into four fields:

First, local, regional, and rural history. Rethinking Home: The Case for Local History (2003) was widely reviewed[4] and featured at several national conferences. On multiple fronts he has continued to study, teach and write about local and regional history and the power of place in determining experience and identity.

Second, European cultural and intellectual history. Among his notable books are Dust: A History of the Small and Invisible, which won the Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction of 2000[5] and On Foot: A Cultural History of Walking. Dust has been translated into Italian, German, and other languages.

Third, family, self, and community. Among his books in this area: Jacob’s Well: A Case for Rethinking Family History (2008) traces seven generations of his family’s migrations from Europe, in Acadia, pre-revolutionary Massachusetts, the rural and industrial Midwest and the American West. Amato describes his youth in two memoirs, Bypass: A Memoir and Golf Beats Us All (And So We Love It).

Fourth, Amato's recent work includes poetry and his first novel. He has written five volumes of poetry, Buoyancies, A Ballast Master's Log;[6] My Three Sicilies: Stories, Poems, and Histories; Diagnostics: Poetics of Time; Towers of Aging (Crossings Press, 2020); and The Trinity of Grace (Legas Publishing, 2020). His first novel, Buffalo Man: Life of a Boy Giant on the Minnesota River, was published by Crossings Press in 2018.

Amato's books won have won him nominations, selections, and honors, of particular note the Minnesota Humanities Prize for Literature[7] and Prairie Star Award from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council.[8]

Selected works

• Mounier and Maritain: A French Catholic Understanding of the Modern World (University of Alabama Press, 1975; republished by Ave Maria Press, 2002[9]
• Ethics, Living or Dead? Themes in Contemporary Values (Portals Press/ Crossings Press, 1982).[10]
• Guilt and Gratitude: A History of the Origins of Modern Conscience (Greenwood Press, 1982).[11]
• Death Book: Terrors, Consolations, Contradictions and Paradoxes (Ellis Press, Crossings Press, 1985).[12]
• When Father and Son Conspire: A Minnesota Farm Murder (Iowa State University Press, 1988).[13]
• Victims and Values: A History and Theory of Suffering, (Greenwood Press, 1990).[14]
• Servants of the Land: God, Family, and Farm, The Trinity of Belgian Economic Folkways (Crossing Press, 1990).[15]
• A New College on the Prairie: Southwest State University's First Twenty-Five Years, 1967–1992 (Crossings Pres, 1991.[16]
• The Great Jerusalem Artichoke Circus (University of Minnesota Press, 1993).[17]
• The Decline of Rural Minnesota, with John Meyer, (Crossings Press, 1993).[18]
• To Call It Home: The New Immigrants of Southwestern Minnesota, with John Meyer, John Radzilowski, Donata DeBruyckere, and Anthony Amato (Crossings Press, 1996).[19]
• Golf Beats Us All (And So We Love It) (Johnson Books, 1997). Finalist for the 1998 Minnesota Book Awards.[20]
• Community of Strangers: Change, Turnover, Turbulence & the Transformation of a Midwestern Country Town, with John Radzilowski and assistance of John Meyer (Crossings Press, 1999).[21]
• Bypass: A Memoir (Purdue University Press, 2000).[22]
• Dust: A History of the Small and Invisible (University of California Press, 2000).[23]
• The Draining of the Great Oasis: An Environmental History of Murray County, Minnesota, ed. with Anthony Amato and Janet Timmerman (Crossings Press, 2001).[24]
• Rethinking Home: The Case for Local History (University of California Press, 2002).[25]
• A Place Called Home: Writings on the Midwestern Small Town, 2003 anthology edited by Richard Davies, Joseph Amato and David Pichaske (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2003).[26]
• On Foot: A Cultural History of Walking (New York University Press, 2004).[27]
• Southwest Minnesota: A Place of Many Places, written with David Pichaske,(Ellis Press/Crossings Press, 2007).
• Jacob’s Well: A Case for Rethinking Family History (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2008).[28]
• Coal Cousins: Rusyn and Sicilian Stories & Pennsylvania Anthracite Histories, Crossings Press, 2008).
• Surfaces, A History (University of California Press, 2013).[29]
• Buoyancies, A Ballast Master's Log (Spoon River Poetry Press/Crossings Press, 2014).[30]
• The Book of Twos: The Power of Contrasts, Polarities, and Contradictions (Ellis Press, 2015).
• My Three Sicilies: Stories, Poems, and Histories (Bordighera Press, 2016).[31]
• Everyday Life: How the Ordinary Became Extraordinary (Reaktion Press, 2016).[32]
• Diagnostics: Poetics of Time (Bordighera Press, 2017).[33]
• Buffalo Man: Life of a Boy Giant on the Minnesota River (Crossings Press, 2018).
• Towers of Aging (Crossings Press, 2020).[34]
• Trinity of Grace (Legas Publishing, 2020).[35]

References

1. "About Us".
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2014-02-26.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. http://special.lib.umn.edu/manuscripts/literary.html Literary Manuscripts Collection], Elmer Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, located at 213 Andersen Library_222 21st Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota
4. Rethinking Home 'University of California Press
5. Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction of 2000
6. Spoon River Poetry Press, care of http://www.ellispress.com/and%5B%5D Crossings Press, http://www.josephaamato.com/publications.html
7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-02-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
8. http://swmarts.org/grants/special-awards/prairie-star-award/%5B%5D
9. Reviews of Mounier and Maritain: A French Catholic Understanding of the Modern World:
   • D'Aoust, Jean-Jacques (September 1976), Church History, 45 (3): 395–396, doi:10.2307/3164298, JSTOR 3164298CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Hellman, John W. (October 1976), The Catholic Historical Review, 62 (4): 659–660, JSTOR 25019997CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Kelly, M. (January 1980), French Studies, XXXIII (suppl): 943–944, doi:10.1093/fs/xxxiii.suppl.943CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Schloesser, Stephen R. (September 2004), "Review", Theological Studies, 65 (3): 676–677
10. Review of Ethics, Living or Dead:
    • Post, Stephen G. (April 1985), Ethics, 95 (3): 767–768, doi:10.1086/292683, JSTOR 2381061, S2CID 222814753CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
11. Review of Guilt and Gratitude: A Study of the Origins of Contemporary Conscience:
    • Noble, David W. (1982–1983), CrossCurrents, 32 (4): 486–488, JSTOR 24458736CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
12. Review of Death Book:
    • Klass, D. (1985), OMEGA: Journal of Death and Dying, 16 (3): 281CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
13. Review of When Father and Son Conspire:
    • Baenen, Jeff (May 22, 1988), Minnesota Bank Officers Killed : Book Examines 'Farm Crisis' Murders, Associated Press – via Los Angeles Times
14. Reviews of Victims and Values: A History and a Theory of Suffering:
    • McGuire, Patrick (Spring 1991), International Social Science Review, 66 (2): 79–81, JSTOR 41881986CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Horan, Michael (Spring 1992), CrossCurrents, 42 (1): 121, JSTOR 24459288CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Vieth, Richard F. (Spring 1992), Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 60 (1): 138–139, doi:10.1093/jaarel/LX.1.138, JSTOR 1465375CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Peters, Edward (March 1992), The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 520, World Literacy in the Year 2000: 206–207, doi:10.1177/0002716292520001037, JSTOR 1047061, S2CID 220853011CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Gilman, Sander L. (April 1992), The American Historical Review, 97 (2): 518–519, doi:10.2307/2165740, JSTOR 2165740CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Mohan, Robert Paul (October 1992), The Catholic Historical Review, 78 (4): 624–625, JSTOR 25023880CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Kromkowski, John A. (1992), Radical Philosophy Review of Books, 5 (5): 46–48, doi:10.5840/radphilrevbooks199254CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
15. Review of Servants of the Land: God, Family, and Farm: The Trinity of Belgian Economic Folkways in Southern Minnesota:
    • Knowles, Anne (Spring 1992), Agricultural History, 66 (2): 376–377, JSTOR 3743875CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
16. Review of A New College on the Prairie: Southwest State University's First Twenty-Five Years, 1967-1992:
    • Douglass, John A. (Fall 1993), The Public Historian, 15 (4): 107–110, doi:10.2307/3378648, JSTOR 3378648CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
17. Reviews of The Great Jerusalem Artichoke Circus:
    • Isern, Thomas D. (December 1994), The American Historical Review, 99 (5): 1780–1781, doi:10.2307/2168574, JSTOR 2168574 https://ir.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/vol54/iss3/20 |url= missing title (help)CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Friedberger, Mark (Winter 1994), Agricultural History, 68 (1): 125–126, JSTOR 3744465CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Bell, Michael M. (Summer 1995), "Review", Rural Sociology, 60 (2): 339, ProQuest 1290960092
    • Bowen, Dawn S. (July 1995), "Review", Journal of Historical Geography, 21 (3): 328–329, doi:10.1006/jhge.1995.0022, ProQuest 1300163603
18. Review of The Decline of Rural Minnesota:
    • Ellenbogen, Bert (Summer 1995), "Review", Rural Sociology, 60 (2): 355, ProQuest 1290920056
19. Reviews of To Call It Home: The New Immigrants of Southwestern Minnesota
    • Stull, Donald D. (1997), Social Thought & Research, 20 (1/2): 201–203, JSTOR 23252144CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Dorais, Louis-Jacques (Spring 1998), The International Migration Review, 32 (1): 244–245, doi:10.2307/2547580, JSTOR 2547580CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Gerber, David A. (Fall 1998), Journal of American Ethnic History, 18 (1): 93–102, JSTOR 27502375CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
20. 1998 Minnesota Book Awards Author Readings, Minnesota Reflections, retrieved 2018-10-24
21. Review of Community of Strangers: Change, Turnover, Turbulence & the Transformation of a Midwestern Country Town:
    • Davies, Richard O. (Fall 2000), Agricultural History, 74 (4): 832–833, JSTOR 3745031CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
22. Reviews of Bypass: A Memoir:
    • "Review", Publishers Weekly
    • Flesher, John (January–February 2000), "Review", Foreword Reviews
23. Reviews of Dust: A History of the Small and the Invisible:
    • "Review", Publishers Weekly
    • Mergen, Bernard (June 2000), American Studies International, 38 (2): 132–133, JSTOR 41279780CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Lambourne, Robert (July 2000), Physics Education, 35 (4): 307–310, Bibcode:2000PhyEd..35..307A, doi:10.1088/0031-9120/35/4/3b2, S2CID 119523816 https://semanticscholar.org/paper/9909b6d1bb594492e14d7fbf54759316cea9ee11 |url= missing title (help)CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Kraut, Alan M. (Spring 2001), The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 31 (4): 613–614, doi:10.1162/00221950151115106, JSTOR 206861, S2CID 142089432CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Wear, Andrew (December 2001), The American Historical Review, 106 (5): 1744–1745, doi:10.2307/2692745, JSTOR 2692745CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Jackson, M. (April 2002), Social History of Medicine, 15 (1): 167–168, doi:10.1093/shm/15.1.167, S2CID 72755635 https://semanticscholar.org/paper/1564c4452a22c437669754ba312a639f616d38ed |url= missing title (help)CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Fitzgerald, Gerard J. (April 2002), Environmental History, 7 (2): 322–323, doi:10.2307/3985690, JSTOR 3985690CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Wilkie, Jacqueline S. (Winter 2001), Journal of Social History, 35 (2): 445–446, doi:10.1353/jsh.2001.0151, JSTOR 3790197, S2CID 142871324CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
24. Review of Draining the Great Oasis: An Environmental History of Murray County, Minnesota:
    • Mock, Cary J. (April 2004), Environmental History, 9 (2): 320–321, doi:10.2307/3986097, JSTOR 3986097CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
25. Reviews of Rethinking Home: A Case for Writing Local History:
    • Klinkhamer, Harry (Fall 2002), The Public Historian, 24 (4): 173–175, doi:10.2307/3378945, JSTOR 3378945CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Gray, Susan E. (Fall 2002), Agricultural History, 76 (4): 723–724, JSTOR 3744972CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Wingerd, Mary Lethert (2002–2003), Minnesota History, 58 (4): 244–245, JSTOR 20188353CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Engeman, Richard H. (Spring 2003), Oregon Historical Quarterly, 104 (1): 139–142, JSTOR 20615311CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Ore, Janet (Spring 2003), Biography, 26 (2): 315–317 Published by: University of Hawai'i Press, doi:10.1353/bio.2003.0052, JSTOR 23540412, S2CID 145436645CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Cayton, Andrew R. L. (April 2003), The American Historical Review, 108 (2): 483, doi:10.1086/533249CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Appleton, Louise (September 2003), The Journal of American History, 90 (2): 733, doi:10.2307/3659582, JSTOR 3659582CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Vanderstel, David G. (2003–2004), The Wisconsin Magazine of History, 87 (2): 51, JSTOR 4637076CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Kessenides, James (Spring 2005), The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 35 (4): 655–656, doi:10.1162/002219505323382861, JSTOR 3656392, S2CID 142790807CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Magnússon, Sigurður Gylfi (Winter 2006), Journal of Social History, 40 (2): 518–520, JSTOR 4491921CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
26. Review of A Place Called Home: Writings on the Midwestern Small Town:
    • Miller, John E. (2003–2004), Minnesota History, 58 (8): 417, JSTOR 20188395CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
27. Reviews of On Foot: A History of Walking:
    • Green, Harvey (October 2005), The American Historical Review, 110 (4): 1126–1127, doi:10.1086/ahr.110.4.1126CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Tarr, Joel A. (Fall 2007), Journal of Social History, 41 (1): 189–190, doi:10.1353/jsh.2007.0154, JSTOR 25096450, S2CID 142128485CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Groneberg, Jennifer Graf (2009–2010), The New Atlantis No. 26 (26): 152–156, JSTOR 43152962CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
28. Reviews of Jacob's Well: A Case for Rethinking Family History:
    • Atkins, Annette (Fall 2008), Michigan Historical Review, 34 (2, Modern Borderlands): 139–140, JSTOR 20174289CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Jensen, Kimberly (Winter 2008), Oregon Historical Quarterly, 109 (4): 630–632, JSTOR 20615910CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Davies, Richard O. (Summer 2009), Journal of Social History, 42 (4): 1058–1060, doi:10.1353/jsh.0.0188, JSTOR 27696536, S2CID 144851898CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Vaught, David (Fall 2009), Agricultural History, 83 (4): 542–543, JSTOR 40607543CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Mercantini, Jonathan (Winter 2010), Italian Americana, 28 (1): 100, JSTOR 41932411CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
29. Reviews of Surfaces: A History:
    • Gubser, Michael (June 2014), The American Historical Review, 119 (3): 844–845, doi:10.1093/ahr/119.3.844CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Russo, John Paul (Summer 2014), Italian Americana, 32 (2): 230–231, JSTOR 43926773CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
30. Review of "Buoyancies: A Ballast Master's Log":
    • Preston, Joshua (Winter 2014), The Rain Taxi Review of BooksCS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
31. Review of "My Three Sicilies":
    • Risso, Roberto (Summer 2017), The Italian Americana: 258–259CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
32. Review of "Everyday Life: How the Ordinary Became Extraordinary":
    • Auslander, Leora (April 2019), The American Historical Review, 124 (2): 618-619 https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/124/2/618/5426266, doi:10.1093/ahr/rhz014CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
33. Review of "Diagnostics: Poetics of Time":
    • Yost, Dana (Fall 2017), Sicilia Parra, XXIX (2)CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
34. Review of "Towers of Aging":
    • Russo, John-Paul (Winter 2020), The Italian Americana: 215–217CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
35. Review of "Trinity of Grace":
    • Yerxa, Donald (2020), Sicilia ParraCS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)

External links

• Official website