Finns in the United States: A History of Settlement, Dissent, and Integration - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1611861063 ISBN 13: 9781611861068

Publisher: Michigan State University Press, 2014

Synopsis

Late-arriving immigrants during the Great Migration, Finns were, comparatively speaking, a relatively small immigrant group, with about 350,000 immigrants arriving prior to World War II. Nevertheless, because of their geographic concentration in the Upper Midwest in particular, their impact was pronounced. They differed from many other new immigrant groups in a number of ways, including the fact that theirs is not an Indo-European language, and many old-country cultural and social features reflect their geographic location in Europe, at the juncture of East and West. A fresh and up-to-date analysis of Finnish Americans, this insightful volume lays the groundwork for exploring this unique culture through a historical context, followed by an overview of the overall composition and settlement patterns of these newcomers. The authors investigate the vivid ethnic organizations Finns created, as well as the cultural life they sought to preserve and enhance while fitting into their new homeland. Also explored are the complex dimensions of Finnish-American political and religious life, as well as the exodus of many radical leftists to Soviet Karelia in the 1930s. Through the lens of multiculturalism, transnationalism, and whiteness studies, the authors of this volume present a rich portrait of this distinctive group.

About this title

About the Author:

Auvo Kostiainen is Professor at the University of Turku in Finland.

Review:

Finns in the United States is now the definitive book on the Finnish experience in America. It surpasses most studies of immigrant adjustment by incorporating the experiences of several generations and the talents of a wide array of scholars.
―John Bodnar, Chancellor’s Professor, Department of History, Indiana University

Finns in the United States pushes scholarship on Finns in the United States well beyond its existing boundaries to encompass studies of culture, transnational politics and religion, deportation, and the complex lives of modern Finnish migrants coming to terms with earlier versions of Finnish-American ethnicity. This book will be required reading for anyone seeking to re-think previous studies or assess newer directions in immigration and ethnic history.
―Donna Gabaccia, Professor of History and Former Director of the Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota

This sweeping and remarkable collection represents a model for the study of an immigrant group. It brilliantly accounts for Finnish America’s internal divisions, its pre-migration past, its continuing transnational ties, its complex relations to neighbors and social hierarchies in the United States, and its potential for helping us re-imagine the broader history of the areas in which immigrants found themselves.
―David Roediger, co-author of The Production of Difference

About this edition

• Publisher: Michigan State University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1611861063
• ISBN 13: 9781611861068
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352
• Editor: Kostiainen Auvo