Polish Americans

In this history of "Polonia" - the community of Polish immigrants and their descendants residing in America - James S. Pula defines what it has meant to be Polish in America since the first large groups of Poles left the Old Country - what they called Stary Kraj - for the New more than 150 years ago. The Polish American community has long been identified with three characteristics that the early immigrants brought with them to America, writes Pula: "an affection and concern for their ancestral homeland, a deep religious faith, and a sense of shared cultural values." Prominent among these values are family loyalty, a desire for property ownership, and pride in self-sufficiency. Throughout the book Pula returns to these themes as Polish Americans have played them out against the backdrop of Polish and American history.