Events and Victims

Edited and with a detailed introduction by Jon Curley, this work features a never-before-published short story by the famous anarchist and victim of legal persecution and xenophobia. That fact that Bartolomeo Vanzetti, an Italian immigrant, learned to write in English while jailed for a capital crime is remarkable enough. What is even more astonishing is that he chose to use his new language skills to write creatively, inventing a parable about worker exploitation and environmental disaster that is as relevant today as it was almost 100 years ago. In a time of assault on immigrants, dissidents, radicals, and the environment, Events and Victims is as timely as ever.

Bartolomeo Vanzetti was born in Villafalletto, Italy in 1888. As an immigrant anarchist, he was at the center of one of the most notorious legal cases of the 20th century, along with Nicola Sacco, that highlighted American anti-immigrant and anti-radical sentiment during the Red Scare. Jon Curley is a poet and teacher, whose collections include Hybrid Moments and Scorch Marks.