The Immigrant Experience: The Anguish of Becoming American

by Thomas C. Wheeler (Editor)

Nine narratives by immigrants and their descendants illuminate the experience of becoming American. Contributors include Czeslaw Milosz, and Mario Puzo.

Genres: Anthropology, History

Paperback

First published March 12, 1992

Reviews

[Christy Hammer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An "oldie but goldie" with short, powerful stories of personal, familial, and communal experiences of European immigrants - those who in the last two centuries we'd call the "White ethnics". The "anguish" was knowing that for however immigrants struggled to both keep and adapt to new beliefs and customs (including their language - often maintained by the mother in the home, sociolinguistic research tells us) immigrants generally had to give much of their ethnic identity up to become an "all-purpose American" so as to be exploited as one. Good workers don't have ethnicity.

European immigrants sailed the seas knowing they'd never be back and threw themselves and their families into the raging blender of the "melting pot", perhaps realizing that chance would have it turn out more like a "salad bowl" - layered by race, ethnicity, class, and with Anglo dressing on top (as is said). One of the priceless insights here is in the story of Mario Puzo (of Godfather's fame) with his apparently coining of the phrase "retrospective falsification" - the human tendency to look back and remember mostly the good, and softening or even forgetting the "anguishes" (to use again Wheeler's title) of life. Throughout these often painful stories of what it feels like to be an immigrant in a new, strange, and often hostile culture, there is a gloss of "it wasn't so bad" and focusing on remembering the good times through tumultuous change.

20th century refugees I know don't seem to practice that comforting delusion much... Not to worry about immigrant woes, though, as it's reported this week that only 2% of current US citizens are predicted to pass Trump's new immigration test (part of his plan to cut immigration numbers in half immediately, and keep the squeeze on.)

[Samantha Glasser · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Immigrant Experience is an arresting compilation of stories from a wide range of immigrants and their struggles to survive in an America that turned out to be much more harsh than they expected.

The book is divided into sections which makes it easy to read. The table of contents gives a description of the ethnicity the portion is about. The presence of this table also contributes to the underlying theme that despite all efforts, the different cultures were and in many cases are isolated from each other. Each author describes the contribution of their people to the United States, as well as the effect America had on them and their culture. Some stories are based on the weather and harshness of the frontier while others are focused on cities and the ideas that came from many cultures forced together.

One is not expected to know a thing about America at the time; it is well described by each author.

The opinions in the stories only add to the quality of the book. By experiencing life through the memories and experiences of the immigrants, one can begin to understand the reasons for their suffering and why they would agonize so long for the bitter taste of freedom.

The lack of conclusion lets the reader form his own opinions about the plethora of biased information in the various sections.

Overall, The Immigrant Experience is an interesting source of information about the many ethnicities that inhabit America.

[Black Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some narratives were super boring, others were fascinating. It was interesting to read how lives are tied together in immigration to America, and how each narrative differently defined what it meant to be an American for them.

Would lightly recommend.

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed most of the stories. A few were hard to get through and were uninteresting.