Arts & Entertainment

Buddy Cianci Dishes Up 'Politics and Pasta' in Middletown

Island Books will host an author lecture, Q&A and book signing with Buddy Cianci at 7 p.m. March 24.

Former Providence mayor, sauce maker, media personality and now author Buddy Cianci will dish with fans on his new book "Politics and Pasta" at 7 p.m. this Thursday, March 24 at Island Books on East Main Road.

The event will also include a question-and-answer session with fans (or foes) and a book-signing of his memoir, the full title of which is quite a mouthful: "Politics and Pasta: How I Prosecuted Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally Funded Gated Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale."

Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Jr.'s storied life, career, trials and tribulations have been the subject of many local and national news reports, as well as several books by other biographers and political writers. But "Politics and Pasta" marks Cianci's first attempt to tell the tales himself, with co-writer David Fisher attached. The former prosecutor and Providence mayor has been credited with the city's renaissance and was known for his bull-dogged approach to making it a travel destination, even bringing in the gondolas from Italy that have since become an iconic image of the city's canals.

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A convicted felon who served time in a federal penitentiary, Cianci later regrouped and went on to become one of the top radio talk show hosts in New England on 630 WPRO AM and 99.7 FM, as well as a political pundit for WLNE-ABC Channel 6, plus host the weekly TV show News on the Record. He talks candidly about that difficult period after his release from prison as well.

Given his ups and downs and his sometimes no holds barred frankness, Cianci has gained a faithful fan base over the years, as well as a good number of critics. The stories behind the stories in his memoir so far seem to have been well-received, with many reviewers describing it as laugh-out-loud funny in some places, but overall living up to the larger than life persona behind these stories.

"When I first took office, Providence was a dying industrial city, and I helped turn it into one of the most desirable places to live in America," Cianci writes. "I did it by playing the game of hardball politics as well as it has ever been played. Because that's the only way a mayor can run a city. As I used to tell my staff, 'When you spend your weekends kissing elderly women with mustaches, you can make the decisions.'"

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Publisher's Weekly said of the memoir,  "...The tone is folksy and occasionally crude, but Cianci's jokes are often at his own expense and a shrewd intelligence shines through. It's easy to understand why he kept getting re-elected." The complete review can be read here.

More capsule reviews can be found here at Amazon.com.

Regardless of which side of the political spectrum one falls, the book is likely to please politics junkies as well. Here's how Buddy introduces his book: "This is the behind-the-locked-door story of how politics in America really works. It's taken me a lifetime of successes and failures to write it. It's all in these pages. I have been called many things in my career: I've been 'America's Most Innovative Mayor,' a 'colorful character,' and a convicted felon. But no one has ever called me shy."

Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Jr., author of "Politics and Pasta: How I Prosecuted Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally Funded Gated Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale," will speak about his book, answer audience questions and sign copies at Island Books this Thursday, March 24, at 7 p.m. For more information about Island Books, click here.


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