Alice Street: A MemoirFrom a difficult childhood on Guelph, Ontario's Alice Street to even harder years as a student at McGill University, Richard Valeriote tells the story of growing up as an impoverished immigrant in early twentieth-century Canada. A witness and participant in the social and cultural changes of the last century, his memories offer a personal perspective on the Great Depression, the Second World War, and the racism and ethnic tensions of small town Ontario. Alice Street recounts how Valeriote was born at the sunset of good times and the dawn of hard ones. His mother's fifteenth child, he grew up in an Italian Catholic family on a street full of proud families with a multitude of languages and backgrounds. From being packed into the local church, to working and borrowing his way through medical school at McGill while surviving several severe illnesses, to his very successful career as a doctor in California, his story is entwined with those of everyone from foundry workers to foreign ambassadors. A warm and informative look at the challenging journey made by so many, Alice Street is a testament to the strength and character needed to make it through tumultuous times. Book jacket. |
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Alice Street Anatomy anesthesia asked became began Bing Crosby boys brain brother Silvio cadavers Cathy child classmates couldn’t didn’t Dio lo vuole dissection doctor Dominic Dominic’s door Dr Martin dressed emergency room eyes father felt fever floor formaldehyde front gave God’s Goose Bay grade Gray’s grocery Guelph hand he’d head high school hitchhiking hospital infection intentionally left blank Italian jackhammer Joseph’s kidneys kids knew Kuzma learned lived loan looked lung MacFee man’s Manny Manny’s maple syrup mastoidectomy McGill University medical school meninges Mike Montreal Montreal Star morning mother never night nurse Ontario Pacifico parents patients picked Piquette pneumothorax Polly Polly’s prayer prosector pulled Royal Victoria Hospital sacks Sacred Heart seemed someone stairs student told took tuberculosis turned Uncle Vincent Valeriote walked wanted What’s who’d wife young