Immigrant Minds, American Identities

''Adds much to the contemporary quest for a more inclusive US history.'' -- Choice ''A valuable contribution to the field of American ethnic history... [Overland] forces the reader to re-examine the philosophical and theoretical meanings of ethnicity in American history -- and maybe even the role of myth in shaping a singular and unique American identity and history.'' -- History ''Amasses a tremendous amount of convincing evidence... [Overland's] analysis contributes to scholarship that attempts to complicate the notion of ethnicity ... Overland's work will be fascinating to anyone concerned with shifting and competing notions of America itself.'' -- April R. Schultz, American Historical Review ''Succeeds in offering a sypathetic portrait of both the origins and forms of immigrant home-making myths among European immigrants and American minorities -- indigenous peoples, Spanish-speakers in the Southwest, and the descendants of African slaves -- who were excluded not only from the circle of national belonging but from citizenship and its rights.'' -- Norma J. Hervey, The Annals of Iowa ''An intriguing and lively work that makes a convincing case for taking ethnic booster literature and celebrations seriously. The book's strength lies in its examination of language and activities that trumpeted ethnic exclusivity and finding a pattern, one that helps define the American experience.'' -- Bruce Leslie, American Studies in Scandinavia ADVANCE PRAISE ''This is a terrific book, an extensive and nuanced study of the various intellectual moves by which European immigrants laid claim to the New World as 'home.' ... Immigrant Minds, American Identities should interest anyone concerned with U.S. diversity in the making and with the fierce contests over that hypnotic ideal, America.'' -- Matthew Jacobson, author of Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race