Description

Prentice-Hall [Published date; 1980]. Hard cover, 162 pp. First Edition, first printing. Inscribed (Personalized) and signed by author on front free end paper dated January 1980. Very good in very good dust jacket. Cream boards with black lettering on spine. Light bumping and scuffing to edges of covers. Binding tight. Pages clean and unmarked. Dust jacket has a few small nicks and tears and light creasing to edges. light overall scuffing and soling to jacket as well. Now in an archival-quality (removable) Brodart Cover. NOT Ex-Library. NO remainder marks.[From jacket flaps] Presenting the Greek experience in the United States as a blend of ethnic pride and resourceful participation in American society, Moskos explores the many facets of that experience. The incredible hardships of the earliest immigrants; the gradual emergence of many as secure members of the middle class; the above- average educational and income achievements of their children and grandchildren; and the still unfolding story of new immigrants from Greece arriving during this past decade and a half - all are recounted in a drama that will fascinate Greeks and non-Greeks alike. While giving full credit to the Greek-American "best of both worlds" adaptation - where ethnic and family cohesion remain strong while accommodating comfortably to American standards - Greek Americans: Struggle and Success resists any impulse to romanticize the history of Greek immigrants or to minimize the culture shock these men and women endured. Tracing the darker side as well as the many triumphs, Moskos details: The ill-fated 1790s New Smyrna, Florida settlement, whose brutalized few survivors escaped to St. Augustine; The reasons behind the need for economic gain which was the overriding motive for Greek migration; Exploitation of Greeks by Greek or other earlier-arrived labor "agents"; The use of Greek immigrants at the turn of the century as strike-breakers in the mines of Utah and as pick-and-shovel railroad workers in the West; The highly publicized riot against Greeks at South Omaha, Nebraska; The initially hostile reception of Greeks as factory workers in New England; The Greek peddlers and shoeshiners in the cities of the North and the emergence of major Greek settlements in Chicago and New York; The role of Greek women in America; The development of Greek Orthodoxy in the new country and the various cultural, literary, and political currents in Greek America; The early and continuing success of Greek Americans as restaurant and small business owners. This authentic account of the successes and failures of this group in adapting to the ways of this land brings to light many little-known "firsts" of high achievers of Greek origin, and provides a long-overdue appraisal of the contribution of this ethnic group to our culture.