BROOKLYN, N.Y. - s4story -- R.J. Cardullo's memoir, "Straight Out of Brooklyn: A Critical Memoir," will be released January 15. This exploration of the author's Italian-American roots is beautifully written, telling of Cardullo's departure from his ethnic culture while never truly leaving it.

Cardullo commented, "The writing itself 'saved' me, in a sense, because good reading requires hard writing, and hard writing (especially autobiography) requires objectivity, perseverance, and discipline—even some artistry."

"Straight Out of Brooklyn" covers a broad scope of subjects from religion, ethnicity, and translation to journalism, arts criticism, and theater. As such, readers who enjoy human-interest stories and ethnic history will find themselves captivated as Cardullo's past, present, and future tumble from the pages.

This book details the author's Italian-American beginnings in the New York of the 1950s and the profound effect that his extended, working-class family has had on his life. So great has this effect been that, as the author ages, he finds he thinks less of the momentous history through which he has lived, or of the intellectual life he has enjoyed, than of some things far more permanent, profound, and primordial: the people and places he knew as a youth, and that knew him; the baseball he played, the movies he loved (and the movie stars he spotted), the teachers he revered; the English his family learned as well as the Italian he unlearned, or lost in translation; the Mafiosi he met and marked; and the religion of his youth that he abandoned, yet that did not abandon him. Cardullo knows that he can't go home again: all he can really do is think about it, which he does so eloquently in Straight Out of Brooklyn.

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About the Author
From 1987 to 2007, R. J. Cardullo was the film critic for the Hudson Review.  He is the author, editor, or translator of a number of books on film and drama. Cardullo earned his doctoral degree from Yale and taught for four decades in the U.S. as well as abroad.

About the Publisher
TouchPoint Press is a traditional publisher of fiction and nonfiction. Our staff is comprised of professionals whose collective experience in publishing, editing, journalism, design, and marketing set the stage for our growing list of published titles. We are proud to work with talented authors and strive to be as innovative and energetic as possible, from acquisitions to promotion before and after publication.