Destination America: The People and Cultures That Created a Nation

by Chuck Wills

The author of Boom Times, Hard Times--a history of America in the 1920Us and 1930Us--now chronicles the stories of American immigrants, offering a detailed look at the myriad reasons why they have... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0756613442
• ISBN13: 9780756613440
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 4.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 10.4" x 12.5"

Customer Reviews

Forgotten Turks who also came to America and distortion of history

This is an excellent book with some omissions and deficiencies on the story of immigration to America in terms of the Four Freedoms expressed in an illustration by the famous American painter Norman Rockwell: "Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Oppression, Freedom From Want, and Freedom from Fear", to which a 5th dimension has been added, "Freedom to Create." With more than 500 photos and artworks, Destination America is a very informative, entertaining and comprehensive "family portrait" of the United States, where I have lived, on and off, for 50 years. Following the Introduction, the first section, Settling in America, tells the story of the First Americans and the settlement of America from the 1500s to the 1800s by the Spanish, the French, the English, the Dutch and Swedish settlers with stories of the Native Americans and the enslaved Africans. It is a moving chronicle that leads to the Thirteen Colonies, the Revolutionary War and closing the "Golden Door." The next four sections tell the story of immigrants from every corner of the world, including the Armenians under "Freedom from Fear." However, there are very few references to Turks or Turkish immigrants who started coming to America during the late 19th century and the early 20th century, which probably numbers around 300,000 today. Early comers were largely Ottoman citizens with different ethnic backgrounds and a few thousand Turks who first showed up, including those during the famous Chicago Worlds fair in 1890s, did not stay to become citizens. Most who came from the Ottoman lands are mentioned under "Muslims" (page 94) where immigration from the Islamic world is described as a fairly recent phenomenon in the United states, but with major cultural impact, perhaps numbering over 7 million. The reason given for the immigration from Syria and Lebanon, then parts of the Ottoman Empire, is young men seeking to avoid conscription into the Turkish Army. The Armenians have been given a special treatment with 2 pages presenting a brief history followed by what is referred to as "The Horrors of 1915", without mentioning the many Armenian uprisings in eastern Anatolia, some of which were probably organized by Armenians already settled in the United States long before the conflict started. The article begins with the following statement: "Many historians consider the fate of the Armenians during World war I to be the first European genocide of the 20th century. While the Turkish persecution of the Armenians remains controversial it led to an influx of up to 100,000 Armenians to America. Today, about half of the nation's million or so Armenian-Americans live in Califrnia." The book needs to be revised referring to the death of both the Armenians and the Turks, not to a myhtical genocide. The last section "Freedom to Create" includes Eli Kazan under "Theater", referring to him as a Greek-American born in Turkey. The short biography of Kazan states that he won fame directing plays by Arthur

A gorgeous book and good read

Informative and fun to read, Destination America is comprehensive in scope and beautifully illustrated. It would make a great gift for any history buff or student.