"Silvio Manno examines immigration dynamics, labor unrest, and a violent clash that laid bare a heated socioeconomic battle on Nevada's mining frontier ... Manno's book is a worthy contribution to historical literature on Nevada."
—Western Historical Quarterly
"What a gem of a book this is. Silvio Manno’s Charcoal and Blood, Italian Immigrants in Eureka, Nevada, and the Fish Creek Massacre, is as much a narrative account about a forgotten chapter of Nevada history, as it is a reflective memoir, enriched by a new immigrant’s quest to understand his people’s past in a frontier land.... It is a difficult task to balance scholarly objectivity with the tricks of memoir and reflective writing, yet Manno does it with aplomb. This work deserves a prime spot on bookshelves of the American West."
—Pacific Historical Review
Manno is the essence of the Italian immigrant story of resilience.”
—Ambassador Magazine
“Charcoal and Blood is a compelling, impressive work of history that all Italian Americans should read. The book is another reminder of the harrowing struggles and sacrifices our ancestors made, sometimes getting killed in the process, so that we may all have a better life.”
—Primo Magazine
“Today we meet Silvo Manno, and we thank him for being here with us: he did research and wrote a book on what was called the ‘Fish Creek massacre’, and happened in Nevada. The different thing from other tragic situations is that in this case the problems arose between two factions within the Italian community. It is important to understand what happened, to learn from their stories”
—We the Italians
"Manno's book should be of great interest to a broad range of potential audiences: anyone interestd in life and death in a small mining community in the West durung its heyday; anyone interested in the history of immigration, particularly of Italians to the West; anyone interested in the development of the labor movement; anyone interested in inter- and intra-thnic conflicts in the West; anyone interested in law enforcement and violence in the West ... Charcoal and Blood is very well researched, very well documented, and very well written."
—Mining History Journal
“A sober and serious-minded account, Charcoal and Blood is highly recommended for public and college library American History collections.”
—The Midwest Book Review
“The book contributes our clearest account yet of this important episode in Nevada history, in which mining history, immigration and social history, political economy, and frontier violence are all intertwined. It also helps shed more light on the history of Eureka, which has been understudied in Nevada historiography.”
—Eric Nystrom, author of Seeing Underground: Maps, Models, and Mining Engineering in America
“This is an extremely significant topic covered with passion and relying on excellent research. Silvio Manno has crafted a portrait of the immigration story by revealing a tragic episode that deserves to be remembered and understood.”
—Ronald M. James, author of A Short History of Virginia City
"Manno is to be congratulated for resuscitating this story from its place in the still little-known history of the West." —Italian American Studies Association
"Manno succeeds in bringing this tragic story into a public arena, after it previously resided piecemeal in newspapers, a dissertation from the 1960s, and hard-to-obtain local history books. He provides a truthful account of the event in a factual manner and without bias. Manno presents many testimonies that demonstrate the grievances of the Italian coal workers and the mistakes of the sheriff's men, but he is not judgmental and leaves readers to draw their own conclusions. One cannot help but admire the modesty in Manno's concluding words, where he ends by saying he is hopeful that a "strand of Nevada heritage has been rescued from oblivion" (245). Never words more truthfully said." —Alexandra de Luise Queens College/CUNY
"The author should be commended for his efforts to unearth this buried history, and indeed, readers of this journal, along with others interested in Nevada and Italian-American history, will find much to enjoy in Charcoal and Blood. But Manno’s work will also appeal to students of the wider experiences of U.S. immigration history and the American West. It will make a fine contribution to university library collections, as well as to courses on the American West." —Aaron Goings, University of Tampere
