492 Great Things About Being Italian is fun, informative and catnip for 17 million Italian-Americans. It follows in the footsteps of other successful books aimed at this minority proud of its remarkable-and ongoing!-heritage. It comprises 492 (as in 1492…) individual people, things, places and phenomena that make one proud to be Italian (or half-Italian, which adds millions more to the target market). But one doesn’t have to be Italian to enjoy this book, any more than one has to be Jewish to love rye bread! Italy is Americans’ second-favorite travel destination outside North America, and Italian foods, celebrities, entertainment, etc., are popular with most everyone.