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Much of Unto the Sons tells of three men and their fate in promised lands: Talese's father and his grandfather (also named Gaetano), who came to America, and a cousin, Antonio Cristiani, who found fame and fortune as a tailor in Paris. In different ways, all three were what the author calls "emotional double agents," loyal to both their adopted and their native countries. Ironically, the elder Taleses found work in a community that was almost as rigidly structured as Maida had been. Ambler, Pa., was a company town, designed by an eccentric entrepreneurial physician to house employees of his prospering asbestos firm. Lowest of the low, Italians and blacks were located nearest the factory and its carcinogenic fumes. Gaetano Talese spent a working lifetime in Ambler; Joseph, after a few months, escaped to the bracing air of Ocean City.
Unto the Sons has some arid stretches of canned history and too many conversations -- admittedly invented by the author -- that read like mediocre . fiction. But there are also some wonderful set pieces, including what may be the most delicious story about tailoring since The Emperor's New Clothes. When Joseph Talese was an apprentice in Maida, he accidentally cut a slit in the trouser leg of an Eastertide suit being made for a Mafia don. Disaster loomed: there was not enough material to craft new pants, and a disappointed "man of respect" might seek terrible revenge.
As siesta time approached, the tailor closed the shop and ordered his assistants to pray to St. Francis of Paola. In due course came inspiration: the tailor cut an identical slit in the pristine trouser leg and sewed up both with an elaborate bird-shaped design. When the astonished mafioso tried on his new suit, the tailor explained that wing-tipped knees were the latest fashion in the great capitals of the world. As proof, he pointed to his assistants: all wore trousers with the identical sewn design. The don left, happily in style.
Given such ingenuity, it is easily understandable how the people of Maida braved misfortune, and survived.