|
|
|
Book Review
| Good Americans: Italian and Jewish Immigrants during the First World War. By Christopher M. Sterba. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. x, 271 pp. Cloth, $65.00, ISBN 0-19-514754-5. Paper, $19.95, ISBN 0-19-515488-6.)
|
| In Good Americans, Christopher M. Sterba argues that immigrant historians have largely neglected the broad context of American history, focusing on immigrant groups in virtual isolation. His effort is to combine older institutional history with newer social history and "to bring national events and a concern for 'contributions' back into the story" (p. 6). To that end he analyzes how first- and second-generation Italians from New Haven and Jews from New York City responded to and participated in World War I. His carefully organized and clearly written monograph presents background material on both immigrant enclaves and sections on the incorporation of immigrant soldiers into the war effort and on the responses of their home front communities. His final chapter is a compelling discussion of Jewish soldiers' and Italian machine gunners' involvement in critical battles. |
. . . |
There are about 350 more words in this article.
Please log in (or, if you are not yet an
authorized user, please go to the
User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
|