Christ in Concrete is a 1939 novel by Pietro Di Donato about Italian-American construction workers. The book, which made Di Donato famous overnight, was originally published by Esquire Magazine as a short story in 1937, and subsequently expanded into a novel by the 28-year-old Di Donato.
The novel was inspired by the death of Di Donato's father in a construction accident on Good Friday in 1923. It tells the story of a bricklayer and his struggle to provide a home for his family.
As indicated by the title, the novel is noted for its rich religious imagery, presented in a largely modernist stream-of-consciousness style.[2] It was adapted into a 1949 motion picture, Give Us This Day, directed by Edward Dmytryk.[3] The movie's background, the director's Hollywood blacklisting, and subsequent debut of the film in England, is covered on the Di Donato website.[4]
