Argentina and the United States were the two main destinations for Italian immigrants during the period of mass European emigration. Starting from the work of Samuel L. Baily (“The Adjustment of Italian Immigrants in Buenos Aires and New York, 1870–1914,” American Historical Review [1983]) and Herbert S. Klein (“The Integration of Italian Immigrants into the United States and Argentina: A Comparative Analysis,” American Historical Review [1983]), a number of scholars have produced comparative research on the experience of Italian immigrants in these two countries. In Migrant Marketplaces: Food and Italians in North and South America, Elizabeth Zanoni leaves aside the traditional focus of this literature on issues such as intermarriage patterns, occupational attainment, and property ownership to instead delve into the role of Italian migrants in food markets in le due Americhe. The book is clearly written and engaging, and it should appeal to a broad audience of readers with interests in immigration, trade, and food, among other topics.

Food markets are in themselves interesting and important but can also be seen as a microcosm to understand the complex relationships between the movements of goods and people across borders. For economic historians interested in this age of globalization, Migrant Marketplaces will provide plenty of food for thought (no pun intended) on the numerous feedback loops between migration and international trade. For instance, its discussion of how immigration might have first increased Italian exports (as Italian immigrants craved products from their homeland) but later decreased them (as Italian immigrant entrepreneurs in Argentina and the United States engaged in the production of tipo Italiano products) could be an interesting starting point for studying how migration might have affected the timing and size of trade flows between Europe and the Americas.

In the Introduction, the author describes the concept of migrant marketplaces as “urban spaces defined by material and imagined transnational links between mobile people and mobile goods.” This concept helps to organize the analysis, which is divided into six chapters. The first chapter starts by laying out the connections between Italian migration and trade to Argentina and the United States. The chapter describes how Italian elites portrayed emigration as a tool for Italian empire-building abroad. Yet it emphasizes how a predominantly male flow of migrants, who preserved strong family connections with Italy, privileged the ability to save money that could be remitted back home (rather than following the Italian elites’ premise of “buy Italian” while abroad).

The second and third chapters explore the differences in the migrant marketplaces of Buenos Aires and New York City in the prewar period. These two chapters are likely to be the most interesting ones for an audience of economic/business historians. Chapter 2 explicitly deals with the differential successes that Italian migrants had in Argentina and the United States. The theme here is similar in flavor to the abovementioned work of Baily and Klein: a more “open” Argentine society, with a less mature industrial structure and a (real or perceived) closer cultural proximity with Italy, was a more fertile ground for Italian food entrepreneurs aiming to cater to nonmigrants. The book emphasizes the peculiarities of the economies and societies of Argentina and the United States as the key sources for these different outcomes. One explanation that is not discussed (but to which the previous comparative literature devotes some attention) is the role that differences in the characteristics of the Italian immigrants moving to either Argentina or the United States might have played in explaining some of these patterns—for instance, the much higher fraction of northern Italians among those who chose Argentina.

The third chapter emphasizes how the development in Argentina and the United States of tipo Italiano products—that is, cheaper, domestically produced versions of traditional Italian imports—might have led to the disruption of Italian commodity chains. Beyond demanding ethnic Italian products, Italian migrants also had a comparative advantage in the production of tipo Italiano products. However, the book describes how the less developed industrial sector of Argentina put limits on the viability of this import-substitution strategy. The chapter offers a vivid account of these developments, with plenty of examples of how individual entrepreneurs were able to succeed in the food markets of Argentina and, especially, the United States. One aspect that would be interesting to explore is the extent to which the proliferation of these products was indeed responsible for a deterioration of trade between Italy and le due Americhe, or whether the fears manifested by actors such as the Italian Chamber of Commerce were less than solidly grounded. For instance, was it the case that the imports of Italian products declined more in places like Argentina and the United States (i.e., those that attracted numerous Italian migrants) than in places with less Italian immigration?

World War I resulted in the reversal of the heavily male migration flow that characterized the prewar period. Chapter 4 describes how this reversal, coupled with wartime campaigns aimed at fostering the consumption of Italian products, reshaped the role of migrants (especially women) as consumers in migrant marketplaces. The chapter makes a convincing case, showing a dramatic shift in the imagery used in advertisements of Italian products: from mostly ignoring women as consumers to putting women at center stage.

A very interesting (and relatively unexplored) aspect of the post–World War I period is that the almost complete closing of the U.S. border to Italian immigration following the quota acts likely had consequences for other destination countries within the Americas. The fifth chapter explores some of the consequences of this reorientation—in particular, the fact that it enabled Italians in Argentina to reinvigorate their commercial and cultural importance. In addition, this chapter shows that during and after World War I, U.S. companies began to actively employ Italian-language newspapers to specifically target Italian consumers in both New York and Buenos Aires.

The final chapter deals with the rise of Italian fascism and its interplay with migrant marketplaces in Argentina and the United States. An interesting point here is the tension between Mussolini's goal to restore a traditional role for women and to move away from U.S.–style “consumerism,” on the one hand, and the necessity of targeting women to sustain Italian trade abroad, on the other.