From All Points

Reviews / Votes

"An engaging and complex work, From All Points makes a persuasive case for the centrality of immigrants to the growth of the West.Autumn 2008"-Frank Van Nuys, Western Historical Quarterly 39
"This book is a cleary written, hefty synthesis of American immigration literature.Fall 2008"-Lissa Wadewitz, Journal of American Ethnic History
"From All Points is a remarkable synthesis of the West as a region of immigrants. It tells the story of how vital immigrants were to economic growth and modernization. This will be the prime reference for 21st century scholars of immigration and ethnicity in the American West. Spring 2010"-Annals of Wyoming
"Written in the fashion of Oscar Handlin, this study makes a convincing case that immigration history comprises an essential part of the history of the American West, and that appreciation of the former and the roles played by myriad alien arrivals is essential for understanding the latter. . . . Barkan (emer., California State Univ.) combines vignettes based on immigrant reminiscences with keen analysis to explore four related themes: various groups' arrivals, their economic influences, their effects on public policy, and their adaptation and assimilation. The resulting narrative is readable and informative. . . . Recommended."-Choice
"Within this handsome volume, Barkan has set a benchmark for further research in the varied histories of immigrants from all pointsFall 2008"-Frederick C. Luebke, New Mexico Historical Review
"From All Points deserves high praise for a number of good things, including meticulous research, expert synthesizing, keen conceptualization, and rich narrative. More important, Barkan's ambitious project does a great service to western historians who have longed for an overview of immigration. Spring 2009"-MONTANA: MAG OF WESTERN HIST
". . . important demographic profiles, and on a meticulous reading of the vast secondary literature that is so masterfully synthesized here.Summer 2007"-Arnoldo De Leon, Register of Kentucky Historical Society
"Elliott Robert Barkan comes ideally equipped for the task of this book . . . By including vignettes of individual life stories, he manages to capture both the forest and the trees of the immigrant experience, and puts a human face on many of the general tendencies and developments he describes.October, 2009"-H-Net Reviews
"This richly detailed history of immigrants in the 20th-century American West rewards the reader with close attention to individual voices of immigrants. Encyclopedic in coverage, loaded with personal stories of real people, this book is unparalleled in its coverage. Finally the West becomes a full part of American immigration history."-Walter Nugent, author of Into the West: The Story of Its People