To know Newark is to love Newark. That might be one way to sum up the heartfelt tribute Daniel P Quinn has made to his beloved city in his new insightful book, “Newark, Italy + Me.” Newark remains the largest city in New Jersey with a population of about 312,000. The city is most famous, today, perhaps, because of the large airport named after her. Newark was a key enclave for many Italian immigrants after disembarkment from Ellis Island.

The city was a manufacturing hub and the author’s maternal side, the Caruso's, came to work in the factories there. The author sees himself, “As an Irish-Italian I am a bridge between both cultures.” While working in Italy at LaScala, “a stagehand asked me if I was ‘Irish’. Startled, I said I was Irish American and Italo-American never realizing I could be looked upon as Irish.”