Germans in America

In Germans in America, a recent addition to Rowman & Littlefield's American Ways Series, Walter D. Kamphoefner, past president of the Society for German-American Studies and a leading scholar in the field, provides the first comprehensive synthesis of the topic since the 1970s. He does so in a way that combines his extensive knowledge and background in researching German Americans with engaging prose that will keep the interest of the general reader. A significant contribution to American immigration and ethnic history, Germans in America delves into the many ways German-speaking immigrants experienced and enhanced American culture.The first chapter covers German speakers in colonial America, beginning with the founding of Germantown, Pennsylvania, by a Mennonite group in 1683. Kamphoefner corrects the belief that most of the German immigrants to the American colonies were members of Pietist groups and notes that the “Protestant ‘church Germans’ of colonial America have gotten much less scholarly attention than the ‘sect Germans,’ such as the Amish” (p. 13). The chapter includes sections about Germans’ roles in the American Revolution and the influence of German cultural practices. Here the reader is assured that “German as the official language [of the United States] was never a possibility” (p. 23). By the early 1800s, German ethnicity in the United States had faded and the numbers of immigrants dwindled until the beginning of mass immigration in later decades.In Chapter 2, Kamphoefner explains the situation in nineteenth-century Europe and reassesses assumed reasons for German emigration. He explains the importance of regional considerations in understanding the push factors behind emigration. While outlining the broad issues of economics and politics, he uses examples of individual people in a way that makes the issues interesting to the modern reader. The third chapter shows that although immigration societies, states’ immigration agendas, and guidebooks were helpful factors in fueling emigration, they were secondary to personal contacts, especially immigrant letters. It also explains why so many Germans ended up in the Midwest and how, even as they were overrepresented in cities, Germans also established a disproportionate number of American farms.The next few chapters cover religion, education, culture, and the economy. German immigrants brought a variety of religious traditions with them, and Kamphoefner discusses German Jews, tensions between German and Irish Catholics, and the importance of German-language instruction in religious schools. He also discusses Germans’ relations with other ethnic groups, such as Slavic immigrants in Texas. German Americans remained connected to their culture through ethnic institutions and German-language newspapers, which constituted the largest non-English press in the United States. Kamphoefner explains how these worked to spread and maintain other German cultural features, including literature, art, and music, and contributions to American culture, including the Christmas tree and the famous “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” which Emanuel Leutze painted in Düsseldorf (pp. 124–125).Further chapters focus on German American political and military involvement and women. Kamphoefner addresses common myths in his overview of German Americans’ involvement in the Civil War and the World Wars and analyzes their activity in American politics, from assumptions of their influence on the vote for Lincoln to their effect on twentieth-century radical socialism. German American women's attitudes and actions were markedly different from those of their American counterparts. With quotations by the women themselves, Kamphoefner illustrates through stories of work, courtship, marriage, and suffrage that “there were many ways beyond Kinder, Küche, and Kirche to be a woman in German America” (p. 181).In the final chapter, “Into the Twilight of Ethnicity,” Kamphoefner considers the effects of the World Wars on German American ethnicity and identity and ponders the significance of the sharp decline in the use of the German language despite German ethnicity remaining the largest in the United States as late as the 1980 census.Two interrelated aspects in particular make this work stand out: Kamphoefner gives ample attention to individuals from all levels of social and economic status and uses anecdotes of his own family history, a characteristic which adds a personal touch to the work while also illustrating his methodology and use of sources. Throughout the work, Kamphoefner tries to correct misunderstandings of German American history, though, thankfully, myth-busting is not a theme that overwhelms the reader.Considering the fact that it covers from the colonial period into the twenty-first century, the book is impressively succinct, even as it yields massive amounts of information. Though written for a general audience and without endnotes, the book includes even the most recent research. A ten-page “Note on Sources” is particularly useful. In addition to providing a needed update to the field, Germans in America provides interested general readers with a broad overview. The book is a great starting point for anyone interested in the history of German Americans, and it will be useful in undergraduate or graduate courses in American history

Archaeology · Colonialism · Economic history · Emigration · Ethnic group · German · Immigration · Political science · Protestantism · American History and Culture · Classics · German Colonialism and Identity Studies · History · Law · Moravian Church and William Blake