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Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die!Author: Mark Binelli American Literature Series July 2006 448 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 paperback, 1-56478-445-2 Retail Paperback Price: Our Paperback Price: $11.96—20% OFF! 
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Book Description
The Nic Sacco and Bart Vanzetti of Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die! are not exactly the infamous anarchists controversially sentenced to death by the United States government. Instead, in this hilarious first novel, they are silent film stars, slapstick comedians—and this is the story of their rise to fame, from a seedy New York vaudeville club (where they introduce their famous knife-throwing gag) to huge movies and USO tours (where they open, with disastrous results, for Bob Hope).
We see them deliberating about who—one will be fat, the other skinny; one will be contemplative, the other impulsive—they should be. But slowly—as slapstick becomes a stand-in for anarchic freedom, as the characters grow out of their on-screen roles, and as their careers decline amidst controversy—the fictional Sacco and Vanzetti begin to merge with their namesakes.
About the Author
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A first-generation American, Mark Binelli grew up just outside of Detroit, where he worked in his father's knife-sharpening shop. In an interview, which is available online and will appear in CONTEXT magazine, Binelli said, "The knife grinding stuff in the book all comes from my family. Pinzolo, the little town in Italy where my father grew up, for some reason has produced an inordinate number of knife grinders." He graduated from the University of Michigan and received an MFA from Columbia University. He is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die! is his first novel. |
Praise
"Telling lies about Sacco and Vanzetti was formerly the provenance of the United States government. Now, radically innovative debut novelist Mark Binelli tries his hand at it, deepening the mystery, and mythology, around these legendary subversives, and producing a novel unlike anything I've read before. A brilliant, hilarious book that proves how relevant the imagination is to the necessary reckoning we make with history."—Ben Marcus"Mark Binelli was so rude, I almost got up and left. He made me come across in such a horrible light. You suck, reporter! And I'm not afraid to say that, because he was really wrong. He hurt my feelings. And I wouldn't even bring it up because I'm giving him my energy and he doesn't deserve my energy."—Britney Spears
"The conceit. . . works extremely well, not only as an entertaining exercise in alternative history but also as a contemplation of comedy, ethnic definition and friendship. . . .] Mark Binelli's pugnacious, inventive and rowdy debut delivers a palpable, endearing mark as it splats a lemon-meringue pie in history's puss, leaving one to muse, 'Some novels I like different.'"—Los Angeles Times Book Review
"A sweeping narrative encompassing everything from the struggles of Italian-American immigrants to the social dynamics of pie fights. . . [with] joyful nostalgia, pinpoint characterizations and postmodern brio."—New York Times Book Review
"It's a brave, heady and hilarious ride."—Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"This is an impressive first outing; ambitious in scope and brimming with sharp-edged black humor."—Publishers Weekly
"All the scraps that make up Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die! coalesce beautifully, forming a rich, multidimensional meditation on comedy, anarchy, and the immigrant experience."—Rain Taxi
"[A] brilliant first novel. . . . Excellent."—Bookslut
"Binelli meshes fiction and fact adroitly, giving a poignant, sometimes hilarious reflection on entertainment and the post-Ellis Island experience. . . . He matches hyperkinetic storytelling with an inventive prose style."—Time Out New York
"Scarily clever."—New York Press