About the Author and Editor
Francisco Gaona (Author)
BA in History, Arts & Letters (1953), Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Ph.D. in Philosophy (1964), Tübingen University, Tübingen, Germany. Instructor of intensive beginning Spanish at American Graduate School of International Studies (AIFT), Glendale, Arizona. Sabbatical year in Bergamo, Italy (1975-76). Professor Emeritus of Spanish and Linguistics, Department of Foreign Languages, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California (1964-2004). Distinguished Professor Award (1970), Sonoma State University. Publication: Basic Spanish, published by Independent Learning Systems, San Rafael, California.
Brook Nestor (Editor and Collaborator)
BA in Spanish and Linguistics with honors and distinction (1975). Instructor of Italian grammar and conversation, Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, California, and Sonoma State University, Department of Foreign Languages, Rohnert Park, California (1994-2005). Technical engineering translator and English instructor for doctors and engineers, Bergamo, Italy (1975-1994). Author of The Kitchenary, a bilingual dictionary and philosophy of Italian cooking (awarded Editor’s Choice and Reader’s Choice), published by iUniverse. She has written numerous articles on Italian culture, including The Origin of Flavor and Bergamo: An American Immigrant in Italy.