David Menicucci is a professional researcher retired from Sandia National Laboratories who still volunteers part-time as a research professor for the University of New Mexico. He has published three nonfiction books and is the author of, or contributor to, nearly sixty research publications. His newest nonfiction release, Two Centuries to Freedom, The True Story of One Family’s Two-Century Migration from Lucca, Italy, to New Mexico and Other American States (Sunstone Press, March 2025), is a comprehensive view of early 20th-century Italian immigration as seen through the eyes of the Menicucci family. The book contains over a hundred historical photos, maps and diagrams. You’ll find Dave on Facebook and his SWW author page. Look for Two Centuries to Freedom on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

When you began writing your family’s history, what did you hope to accomplish? By the end of the journey, do you feel you were successful in your goals?
I wanted to tell a fascinating true story, one fully annotated and referenced. Most importantly, I strove to tell what drew these dirt-poor immigrants to this country. America’s free market capitalism allowed them to own their own business and the freedom for self-development. The story of Catholicism is a large part of the story, especially how the Italians used prayer to generate hope in the most calamitous of situations. There are detailed accounts of the grandiose midnight Masses at Immaculate Conception Church in the 1950s that required ticketed reservations for a seat in the pews. Whether the book is successful remains to be seen. The goal is to educate people by encouraging reading. The Albuquerque Public Library has nine copies, and an e-book will be available shortly.

What unique challenges did this work pose for you?
Wringing out the juiciest information, such as the story about the Menicuccis’ and Matteuccis’ experiences with depression. The book provides vivid details about the ravages of mental dysfunction in Albuquerque in the 1950s and the impact it had on the early Italians who feared it like a dreaded disease. But obtaining the information was difficult because people feared speaking out lest they be blamed for spreading scandalous information, even if the information was verified and all the participants had been deceased for decades.

When did you know you wanted to write the book that became Two Centuries to Freedom? What prompted the push to begin the project?
My mother, Emma Dalle Menicucci, in about 2000 knew by my many publications that I could write. She suggested that the family story would be interesting for people to know because it exemplified the features of America that drew the immigrants here and how those features allowed the family to thrive. She supplied interesting material and stories, which piqued my interest. But it was Rick Nathenson’s Albuquerque Journal article in 2010 that sparked my effort. In that article, he asked whether a gang of local Lucchese (Lucca Italians) chased a Chicago Mafia gang out of town in 1928. He left the question unanswered, and it intrigued me sufficiently that I set out to answer it. That led to intriguing discoveries that convinced me that a compelling story about Italian immigration was waiting to be told. The answer to Nathanson’s question is on page 225 of Two Centuries, section entitled: “Lucchese to Albuquerque’s Defense.”

How is the book structured and why did you choose to put it together that way?
The book covers a chronological period beginning in the 1780s and ending in the 1980s, thus the “two centuries” title. It is structured by date. Appendices provide additional detailed information on specific ancillary topics but of significant importance. About eighteen pages of references provide the source materials that I used. The Notes explain how I used these sources to develop my conclusions in each chapter. My self-imposed constraint was to meet the International Genealogical Standard of Proof, which generally requires two independent sources to verify a conclusion.

Tell us how the book came together.
I wrote the book and then sought out a publisher. Rose Kern suggested self-publishing, but the book is large (644 pages), has many references, and a hundred pages of notes, including tables and other graphics. So, due to the complexity, I hesitated to take this on myself. Because of my affiliation with the university, I began soliciting publishers, starting with UNM Press. Unfortunately, they are not community-inclined. I solicited others until I found Sunstone Press. I was able to negotiate a fine deal.

The book comprises three phases of effort: 1) Ten years of research, 2) Two and a half years of writing, and 3) Two years of marketing. My marketing plan has three targets: 1) Family and Friends, 2) Local folks in Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Santa Fe counties, and 3) National and international, especially Italy. I am in phase 2. I will launch phase 3 at the world’s largest international genealogy conference in Salt Lake City in March 2026, where I will speak.

What are some of the most surprising facts you discovered while doing research for this project?
Three surprises. First, how crazed most Italians are over Porcini. Some of the anecdotes are on par with Three Stooges skits. Second, the amount of alcohol consumed by the Italians. A typical immigrant family fermented about 200 gallons of wine and distilled 5-10 gallons of grappa annually. (Grappa is a low-quality brandy, ~70 proof, produced by fermenting and distilling the leftover skins and seeds of squeezed wine grapes.) My grandfather took four shots of grappa daily—in coffee, lunch, dinner and before bed. And he drank water and wine at meals. My grandmother drank about ¾+ bottle of wine daily. They both died in their 80s, 90s of old age. Third, the profound nature of scandal in immigrant Italian culture, which exists today. Scandal is an innate fear in many Italian families that rivals horror tales of goblins and evil specters. It impacted my ability to collect data. I visited my aunt in Louisiana three times to convince her to relate intriguing inside stories that she had been harboring for decades. Only when all the participants in the story were dead—fortunately, she had survived them—did she reveal the details. An appendix is devoted to the issue of scandal in Italian culture.

What was the most rewarding aspect of writing Two Centuries to Freedom?
Researchers are educators. My goal is to discover new things and tell other people about them. Publishing a detailed, properly referenced, fully annotated report of my extensive findings is immensely satisfactory.

How do you conduct your research? How does your research continue once you begin writing?
My process of discovery is involved, and I will have more to say in some workshops I am planning for SouthWest Writers. But simply, I collect a lot of information, then sort through and quality-assure it and subsequently categorize all. I look over the categories and decide what kind of story they tell. If the emerging story is worth telling, I synthesize the categorical information into a coherent narrative. One of the book’s most unique features is that it tells this story in the context of history. This means it explains what the people did and the coincidental historical conditions that influenced their decisions.

Naturally, once the writing begins, discrepancies arise that require additional research. These interruptions can disrupt a train of thought in a writing session, so I triage each new side-finding and decide whether to table it for later or interrupt the work and integrate it into the trove of data. Diversion is typical in research and is one way that novices can be sidetracked into unproductive paths of inquiry. I keep my eye on the main goal at all times.

What does a typical writing session look like for you? Do you have any writing rituals or something you absolutely need in order to write?
Every author has his/her way. I focus on the reader. I imagine speaking directly to him or her in simple words. I make liberal use of parables. I like to tell stories that engender my primary goal—to educate. I measure everything in the book against that standard. I ruminate much before I write. I began the process by imagining the whole story as one—where does it start, where does it go, and where does it end? That encapsulates the project and provides a clear goal. Then, I put myself in the reader’s shoes and ask what might be interesting and important to understand the story.

I contemplate much and write a little. I frequently mull things over for weeks, usually at one of my retreats, such as our mountain cabin, home greenhouse, basement brewery, the Jemez streams, UNM golf courses or my workshop. I bring a notepad and jot things down as I think about them. At some point, I have enough to begin drafting. Once I start, I sprint to the end. Typically, for a writing session, I select a goal, such as completing a fixed number of related sections. I had several 72-hour periods where I slept a total of eight hours and ate nothing but a couple of cups of soup and a sandwich. I do not recommend this but it has served me well since graduate school, and I have many publications and two professional careers as evidence.

What writing projects are you working on now?
I have several planned, all related to Two Centuries to Freedom. Presently, I am working on The Culinary Principles and Practices of Albuquerque’s Early Italians. This will explain how the Italian immigrants in the city cooked, what foods they ate, what practices they brought from Italy, how their food impacted the local populace and culinary fusion with the Anglo and Hispanic cuisines, especially the use of New Mexico chiles in Italian food. I am also in the process of telling the Two Century story visually, in a screenplay.

KL Wagoner loves creating worlds of fantasy and science fiction. Her current work in progress is The Last Bonekeeper fantasy trilogy and short stories in the same universe. A member of SouthWest Writers since 2006, Kat has worked as the organization’s secretary, newsletter editor, website manager, and author interview coordinator. Kat is also a veteran, a martial art student, and a grandmother. Visit her at klwagoner.com.