To Seek America: A History of Ethnic Life in the United States

Maxine Seller book is a history of the development of the American people. It is the story of the US population and how it was constructed from the Colonial Period to the twentieth century. The theme of her work is that immigrants who came to the Colonies, and later the United States, encouraged immigration to America by their family and countrymen in their country of origin. In the majority of cases, immigration to North America represented an attestation of people to realize their life goals. These goals included ownership of land, freedom of religious practice, opportunity to own a business, ability to support family, and chance to work with present day technology. These are attractive goals regardless of the time in history and thus the experiences of first generation immigrants encouraged subsequent immigration. Twentieth century immigration is a combination of this tradition coupled with the influx of refugees. Both type of immigrants have similar experiences in assimilating into the American culture, however acceptance of refugees depends on the political circumstances that surround their arrival. There was official public sympathy for refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia for which the US Government sponsored relocation programs. And there was distain for other refugees from Afghanistan and Haiti, for which there was a sense of indifference by government to their arrival.Seller chronicles the development of immigration and gives detailed examples of the daily lives of immigrants. The book contains quotes from letters written by new arrivals to their families in the old country. Her work contains factual information, statistics, and discussion for the etiology of each wave of immigration, noting that the larger influx occurred between 1890 and 1914 when 30 million migrated, mostly from eastern and southern Europe. It is evident that changes in agriculture influences people to migrate. Early immigrants to North America came to work on and own affordable land. Western Europe had a labor supply due to more efficient farming methods and the demise of the feudal system of agriculture. In the twentieth century, the peasantry from the agricultural regions of eastern and southern Europe migrated to escape the impoverished life of farming. These latter immigrants experienced a complete change in life style coming from rural European communities to urban industrial society in America. In each phase of immigration Seller refers to historical, political, and economic determinates to explain the particular characteristics of the immigrant populations. From the Taiping Rebellion in China to the potato famine in Ireland, all determining facts and influences on the migrating peoples is presented. * * *To Seek America is a detailed look at the formulation of the American culture. Despite the presence of many ethnic sub-groups, there persists an American peoplehood; a sense of universal democra