American literature, especially modern and contemporary; poetry; cultural studies, particularly the political contexts of literature; Italian-American literature and culture; food studies.
Current Research: American literature and culture in the Depression; the Italian-American cultural tradition; food studies.
“’The sight to see and the will to do’: Charles Reznikoff and the Poetics of Exposure” (LIT:Literature Interpretation Theory, June 2006)
"I Get No Kick Out of Assimilation; or, My Frank Sinatra Problem" in Frank Sinatra: History, Identity, and Italian-American Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)
"George Oppen's '"I've Seen America" Book': Discrete Series and the Thirties Road Narrative" (American Literature, September 2002)
"Charles Bernstein: An Interview" (Contemporary Literature, Spring 2000): and "Dago Christs or Hometown Heroes?: Proletarian Representations of Sacco and Vanzetti" (Centennial Review, Fall 1997).
Many conference papers include presentations on Objectivist poetry; Frank Sinatra and Italian-American culture; poetry and radical politics in the 1930s.
ForthcomingPublications: “’Tea and cookies. Diavolo!’: Italian American Masculinity and John Fante’s Wait Until Spring, Bandini” (MELUS).