Description
Book SynopsisDescribes how German Philadelphians reinvented themselves in the early twentieth century. This book explores how many middle-class and Lutheran residents had redefined themselves in "old-stock"���' terms. It challenges historians to rethink the phenomenon of ethnic assimilation and to explore its complex relationship to American pluralism.
Trade Review"This is a richly satisfying book. One puts it down feeling that everything relevant to the subject has been carefully looked into, judiciously considered, and set forth in a calm, clear, and illuminating manner... [The] book gives us much to think about and even more to admire."--Philip Gleason, American Historical Review "The book has tremendous merits for its sweeping arguments backed up by detailed documentation... [It] makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of early twentieth century German-America, and it enhances our understanding of the relationship between ethnicity, whiteness, and national identity in urban America."--Christiane Harzig, Central European History
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ix List of Tables xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 Part One: 1900 Chapter One German Philadelphia: A Social Portrait 17 Chapter Two Two Neighborhoods 43 Part Two: Confronting Assimilation, 1900-1914 Chapter Three The Gendered Crisis of the Vereinswesen 79 Chapter Four Destinations: The Ambiguous Lure of Mass Commercial and Consumer Culture 95 Chapter Five Destinations: Fractured Whiteness, "American" Identity, and the "Old Stock" Opening 109 Chapter Six Resisting Assimilation: Middle-Class and Working-Class Approaches 130 Part Three: Storm, 1914-1919 Chapter Seven European War and Ethnic Mobilization 151 Chapter Eight Intervention, the Anti-German Panic, and the Fall of Public Germanness 171 Part Four: Reshaping Identities in the 1920s Chapter Nine An Ethnicity Subdued 197 Chapter Ten Changing Neighborhoods 213 Chapter Eleven Middle-Class Germans: American Identity and the "Stock" of "Our Forefathers" 232 Chapter Twelve Workers and Catholics: Toward the "White Ethnic" 246 Conclusion Pluralism, Nationalism, Race, and the Fate of German America 261 Appendix The Neighborhood Census Samples 283 Notes 291 Index 371
