And My Children Did Not Know Me: A History of the Polish-Americans (Minorities in Modern America) Bukowczyk, John J.

Primarily covering the emigrants between 1870 and World War I and their descendants, this is a concise treatment focusing on Polish-Americans' work and labor unions, values and religion, politics, and response to World War II and the Cold War. Statistical information pervades the narrative, which relates the common immigrant problems of being torn between old and new culture. World War II and the postwar mass consumption society tipped the scales to Americanization. The author deplores the lack of enthusiasm among Polish-Americans for Polish culture, faults white liberals for blaming Poles and other ethnics for racism, and resents anti-Polish stereotypes and the concomitant lack of concern about it by liberal groups. A lengthy, well-done bibliographic essay aids further study. Roger W. Fromm, Bloomsburg Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.
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