second-generation Italian-Americans. Screenwriter Ben Barzman, who wrote the screenplay into which the novel was adapted, called it "the first of its kind", and The National Italian American Foundation called it "rare." Charles Poore, writing in The New York Times on Sept. 15, 1939, described the book as "eloquent" and "Italian to the core...by turns operatic, lyrical, ferocious and hilarious", and commented, "It was something rare, a proletarian novel written by a proletarian." It was included in Edward O'Brien's Best Short Stories of 1938. The novel was adapted into the 1949 film Give Us This Day (U.S. title: "Christ in Concrete"), written by Ben Barzman, and directed by blacklisted filmmaker Edward Dmytryk. It won awards at festivals across Europe, such as the 1949 Venice Film Festival, though it was effectively banned from the United States at the time, and was only shown in a single theatre. In 1958 Di Donato wrote his second novel, a sequel to Christ in Concrete called This Woman. It continued the story of di Donato's life following his father's death, and focused on his spiritual conflict and obsessive sensuality. In 1960 a third book in the same tradition called Three Circles of Light, focused on Di Donato's childhood in the years prior to his father's death. That same year, Di Donato published The Immigrant Saint: The Life of Mother Cabrini, a fictionalized account of Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first United States citizen to be canonized. It was well-received, and named a main selection of the Catholic Book Club and Maryknoll Book Club in 1961. Though critics felt that Di Donato's later works never achieved the quality of Christ in Concrete, Immigrant Saint became a cult classic. The following year Di Donato published The Penitent, an account of contrition and spiritual rebirth of the man who killed the twelve-year-old St. Maria Goretti. His last book-length publication was Naked as an Author, a collection of reprinted stories from his longer works. In 1978 his article on the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro (president of the Christian Democratic Party of Italy), titled "Christ in Plastic", appeared in Penthouse magazine, and won an award from the Overseas Press Club. Di Donato later adapted the article into a play entitled Moro. Personal life Following the death of his father, Di Donato became the breadwinner for his mother and seven siblings. He joined the Young Communist League in response to the