The book, which portrayed the world of New York's Italian-American construction workers during The Great Depression,[1] was hailed by critics in the United States and abroad as a metaphor for the immigrant experience in America,[2] and cast Di Donato as one of the most celebrated Italian American novelists of the mid-20th century.

[2][3] Christ in Concrete was published as a short story in the March 1937 issue of Esquire magazine, and was subsequently expanded into a full-length, blue-collar proletarian novel with an introduction by Arnold Gingrich.

[3] The novel was adapted into the 1949 film Give Us This Day (U.S. title: "Christ in Concrete"), written by Ben Barzman, and directed by blacklisted filmmaker Edward Dmytryk.

[1] The following year Di Donato published The Penitent, an account of contrition and spiritual rebirth of the man who killed the twelve-year-old St. Maria Goretti.

[3] In 1978 his article on the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro (president of the Christian Democratic Party of Italy), titled "Christ in Plastic", appeared in Penthouse magazine, and won an award from the Overseas Press Club.

[4] In 1942, after registering as a conscientious objector to World War II, Di Donato, while working as a forester in a Cooperstown, New York Quaker camp,[3] met former showgirl Helen Dean.

[2] Di Donato died of bone cancer January 19, 1992 in Stony Brook, Long Island, with his last unfinished novel, Gospels, unpublished.

Keeping Pietro Di Donato's legacy alive, his son Richard is now maintaining a comprehensive website, detailing events not prior published, at www.PietroDiDonato.com.