Hamilton Holt, editor of The Independent, collected these touching autobiographies of ordinary people--new immigrants and sharecroppers, cooks and fishermen, women and men working in sweatshops, in the city, and on the land. First published in 1906, and reissued a decade ago, this new edition of Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans is expanded to include lives Holt did not include in his original selection, as well as a new preface by Werner Sollors.
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About the Author
In addition to a career as a newspaper editor, Hamilton Holt was a supporter of Zora Neale Hurston and President of Rollins College. Werner Sollors is Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English Literature, Professor of Afro-American Studies, and Chair of the History of American Civilization Program at Harvard University. His books include Beyond Ethnicity and The Invention of Ethnicity.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You can't say enough nice about this book.....,
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This review is from: The Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans as Told by Themselves: Expanded Edition (Paperback)
I'm not one of the sort of people who falls often for heart warming. I'm too bitter, too jaded... too educated to be able to gush openly about kindly regard for many things. This book, though, deserves that kind of praise.As you could gather from the blurbs from magazines, this is a hundred year old book that seeks to illustrate the lives of typical, everyday (not to say uninteresting) Americans. The book is short; it's stories are realistic. Thus, it gives great insight into our collective 'ancestry': a voice to the long-dead. I'm inclined to think that every time I mentally want to destroy America, in this book, again, could be found renewed hope and exploration. In this book one can find the stories of Lithuanians who set out to cross the ocean, of free black women finding for the first time life in a segregated south, of Greek pushcart workers who end up with $50,000 in the bank. More or less, these are the voices that give our community continuity.... and, well, I'm starting to ramble and make little sense.... Just read the book....
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More!,
By Dr.JNixt (Mid-Town, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans as Told by Themselves: Expanded Edition (Paperback)
I hope this is one of many books just like this one! Heart-warming stories, you'll wish you'd known the person first-hand. I'm actually buying copies of this book for various friends that think the only history they need to know is on the History Channel!Well-written.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The threads that bind us as Americans,
By A.J. Hills "Bibliothecaire" (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans as Told by Themselves: Expanded Edition (Paperback)
Each story is engaging and interesting. The stories are about urban and rural life. The most wonderful aspect of these acccounts are how much in common we have as human beings and immigrants. The same struggles and hardships are experienced regardless of ethnicity, an eye opening read.
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Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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little papoose Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Key West, Training School, United States, Coney Island, Mount Lebanon, Hong Kong, Aunt Fanny, Miss Detective, French Canadian, San Francisco, The Chinaman, Daniel La France, Wilhelm Birbell, State of Georgia, Young Men's Christian Association, The Independent, Daisy Bell, Sixth Avenue New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
little papoose Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Key West, Training School, United States, Coney Island, Mount Lebanon, Hong Kong, Aunt Fanny, Miss Detective, French Canadian, San Francisco, The Chinaman, Daniel La France, Wilhelm Birbell, State of Georgia, Young Men's Christian Association, The Independent, Daisy Bell, Sixth Avenue New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 2
books:
37
books
cite this book:
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- The Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans: As Told by Themselves by Hamilton Holt in Table of Contents
- The People of the Abyss by Jack London on page 4
- A Larger Memory: A History of our Diversity, With Voices by Ronald Takaki in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s (The American Moment) by Professor David J. Goldberg on page 145, and page 201
- Unsubmissive Women: Chinese Prostitutes in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco by Benson Tong in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Immigrant Minds, American Identities: Making the United States Home, 1870-1930 (Statue of Liberty Ellis Island) by Orm Overland in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Sweatshop: The History of an American Idea by Laura Hapke in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 37 books citing this book
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