Orsi, Robert A. The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950. New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 1985.

Second edition, with a new introduction, “Fieldwork Between the Present and the Past,” 2002.

Third edition, with a new introduction, “History, Real Presence, and the Refusal to be Purified,” 2010.

Awarded the John Gilmary Shea Prize by the American Catholic Historical Association, 1986, for contribution to Catholic historiography, and the Jesuit National Book Award, 1986.

In an evocation of Italian Harlem and the men and women who lived there, Robert Orsi examines how the annual “festa” of the Madonna of 115th Street both influenced and reflected the lives of the celebrants. This prize-winning work seeks to offer a new perspective on lived religion; the place of religion in the everyday lives of men, women and children; the experiences of immigration and community formation; and American Catholicism.