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Book Review Of Round Trip To America Immigration

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Recommended: Social impacts of migration

In the book Round Trip to America: The Immigrants Return to Europe, 1880-1930 author, Mark Wyman analyzes some reasons why after the mass immigration to the United States, many of immigrants made trips back to their mother country. In Wyman’s analysis, he finds patterns tied with ethnic origin, work, assimilation and more. This essay will discuss the phenomena of ‘return immigration’ and the impact it had on America, specifically with the labor movement, politics of assimilation and the rise of nativist movements while bringing forward the stories of those immigrants who went through it.

Coming to America In the beginning of Round Trip to America, Wyman talks about the incentives or reasons on Europeans immigrating to America along with …show more content…

Wyman answers this question quite bluntly as he speaks about the immigrants negative experiences. One of the main reasons the immigrants chose to leave is because they never intended to stay. The European economy was not doing well at the time and the only way to get out of it was through the opportunity of America. Some did not want to leave; Wyman implies that this trip to America was another job in order to provide for their families that would stay in the homeland.
Another reason for leaving America included the outcome not meeting the expectation of America as immigrants did not feel the United States was the ‘home of the free’ or ‘open to all’. Many of the immigrants felt like they were a small part of a huge machine that never stopped moving. Along with that the new immigrants faced constant criticism as they were stealing jobs, causing crime, and more. Nativists were constantly harassing the new immigrants due to their darker complexion and obvious economic status; to them they were …show more content…

This topic is important as is debunks the notion that all immigrants loved coming to America and wanted to stay here when in reality immigrants faced a harsh life in America, some like the Irish, Italians and Jews faced racism as they were typically poor, noticeable and kept to themselves due to their lack of the English language and American culture. Wyman’s account of reverse migration is informative and enriching as he clearly lays out statistics, primary sources, and pictures to bring forth the journey millions of immigrants went through between 1880 and 1930. The significance of Wyman’s book is not only the knowledge it brings people, but the paradigm shift is allows people to see. Round Trip to America gets its readers out of their seat and makes them feel like they are in the shoes of an immigrant going through their journey in

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