Americanization in the States.

Americanization in the States

Christina A. Ziegler-McPherson

University Press of Florida

University of Florida,

15 Northwest 15th Street, Gainesville, FL 32611-2079

9780813033617 $65.00 www.upf.com

Americanization in the States: Immigrant Social Welfare Policy, Citizenship, and National Identity in the United States, 1908-1929 is a scholarly study of American bureaus and programs in the early twentieth century that were designed to help immigrants blend into American society. Though some of these efforts were criticized for being culturally oppressive, forcing those from diverse cultures to conform to Anglo-American cultural norms, Americanization in the States reveals that many of the programs were sympathetic to the immigrants' cultures, and offered solid benefits ranging from adult education to environmental improvement, labor market regulations, or even conflict resolution. A heavily researched and thoughtful read, Americanization in the States is highly recommended as a balanced perspective on a complex social issue. Highly recommended, especially for public and college library collections. "... conservatives became active in citizenship education for children primarily because they were increasingly skeptical of their ability to influence immigrant adults. By 1921 most patriotic organizations that had been active in Americanization during and immediately after the war had scaled back their immigrant education programs and endorsed immigration restrictions as th best solution to the perceived problems of labor radicalism and undesirable foreign cultures in America. Only the DAR continued its Americanization work among foreign-born adults even as it withdrew support from a wide range of progressive projects and embraced immigration restriction in the mid-1920's."