Synopses & Reviews
Among the Americans who joined the ranks of the Doughboys fighting World War I were thousands of America's newest residents. Good Americans examines the contributions of Italian and Jewish immigrants, both on the homefront and overseas, in the Great War. While residing in strong, insular communities, both groups faced a barrage of demands to participate in a conflict that had been raging in their home countries for nearly three years. Italians and Jews "did their bit" in relief, recruitment, conservation, and war bond campaigns, while immigrants and second-generation ethnic soldiers fought on the Western front. Within a year of the Armistice, they found themselves redefined as foreigners and perceived as a major threat to American life, rather than remembered as participants in its defense. Wartime experiences, Christopher Sterba argues, served to deeply politicize first and second generation immigrants, greatly accelerating their transformation from relatively powerless newcomers to a major political force in the United States during the New Deal and beyond.
Review
"A much needed comparative and blended ethnic history...Sterba adeptly juxtaposes issues of inclusion and prejudice, anxiety and entitlement, demonstrating how these immigrants and their American-born children found ways to express both their particularistic cultures and yet participate with enthusiasm in the larger society.
Good Americans shows us a new way of thinking about immigrant contributions and validates the importance of the state in the lives of very ordinary people."--Hasia R. Diner, New York University
"Sterba successfully challenges the long-standing assumption that nativist demands for 100% Americanism and government coercion dominated the immigrant experience during the First World War. He provides a unique window into both the experiences of individuals and communities during the war, eschewing generalities to detail the wide array of activities from the horror of combat along the Western Front to the street protests of New York City that together defined their 'immigrant experience.' Wonderfully written and carefully researched, Good Americans is an outstanding achievement."--Jennifer D. Keene, author of Doughboys, the Great War and the Remaking of America
"A fascinating story, and a stunning synthesis of 'old' history and 'new.' It reveals in wonderful drama and detail the intertwining of World War I, immigrants, and American democracy, and also how ethnic pride flowed into national assimilation and a strengthened American internationalism."-Martin J. Sklar, Bucknell University
Review
"Sterba recognizes the unique complexity of the process by which identity is constructed and suggests thatthe impact of the war on immigrant consciousness was to no small extent a function of the specific cultural background of each group, the local socioeconomic and political realities each faces in America, and the military units in which its members servedThis is a generally interesting, informative, and well-textured book."--New York History
"A well-researched and well-argued monograph. For anyone interested in immigration, urban or, World War One history."--H-Net Reviews
"Good Americans provides rich detail on the role of the state and federal government, especially the military, in the lives of ordinary immigrants."-- American Jewish History
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-263) and index.
About the Author
Christopher M. Sterba received his Ph.D. in American history from Brandeis University and lives in the San Francisco Bay area.