ABSTRACT

In the last, rootless decade families, neighborhoods, and communities have disintegrated in the face of gripping social, economic, and technological changes. Th is process has had mixed results. On the positive side, it has produced a mobile, volatile, and dynamic society in the United States that is perhaps more open, just, and creative than ever before. On the negative side, it has dissolved the glue that bound our society together and has destroyed many of the myths, symbols, values, and beliefs that provided social direction and purpose. In A History of the Polish Americans, John J. Bukowczyk provides a thorough account of the Polish experience in America and how some cultural bonds loosened, as well as the ways in which others persisted.

chapter 1|15 pages

From Hunger, “for Bread”

Rural Poland in the Throes of Change

chapter 2|18 pages

To Field, Mine, and Factory

Work and Family in Polish America

chapter 3|31 pages

Hands Clasped, Fists Clenched

Unity and Strife in the Immigrant Community

chapter 4|20 pages

Continuity and Change in the 1920s and 1930s

From Polish to Polish-American

chapter 5|20 pages

The Decline of the Urban Ethnic Enclave

Polish America Transformed, WW II-Present

chapter 6|20 pages

What Is a Polish-American?

The Revival of Ethnic Identity

chapter 7|18 pages

Vanguard or Rearguard?

Ethnic Politics in Mass Society

chapter |4 pages

Epilogue

Polish-American Ethnicity—Its Meaning and Its Future