Life in America: Comparing Immigrant Experiences.

Life in America; an incredible and very controversial book, which really makes a great
impression on the reader about the life, justice and equality that Americans had with immigrants
in the 1900's and sincerely gives a 360° turn to the history that is told of America and its
humility.
this book was written by Brynn Baker, a journalism graduate, and has 48 chapters divided into 6
chapters focused mainly on immigration in the early twentieth century, this book highlights the
different experiences that immigrants from various countries had and the protagonists of the
story are the thousands of people who gave their testimony of what it was like to survive in a
country where you were not a native.
The story summarizes that the United States has always been a country where migrants come to
seek a better life and something that we can realize by reading the book is that the country has
always been a land of immigrants. Since the sixteenth century, pilgrims came to the country to
start a new life, in the seventeenth century businessmen and religious leaders came to found
new colonies. Then in the 17th century, slave traders forced Africans to immigrate to the
country to tend crops, the 19th century saw a boom of immigrants from Ireland and gold
prospectors from China. However, in the early 20th century, their arrival in the United States
was truly astonishing, as between 1880 and 1920, nearly 30 million immigrants flooded the
United States. Most of them came from places like Poland, Hungary, Italy, Germany and
Greece. Each of these thousands of people traveled from far away, left their families and set out
for a place where they saw it as a land of opportunity, where they would be able to get money
and a decent life. Others said it was a place of beauty and hope, such as Renee Berkoff, a
Hungarian immigrant who sang and said "In America life is golden; In America the flowers are
more beautiful. In America the world is so much better. And that's where I long to be my dear"
Nevertheless, the reality was very different from the way it was portrayed. Many of the people
who immigrated were surprised to find that life was very hard and not easy, because most of
them lived in deplorable conditions and in some cases living in the streets, they worked more
than 10 hours until exhaustion, most of them were discriminated by Native Americans just for
coming from another country, for their race, religion or their beliefs. For example, one story that
represents this reality is that of the Russian immigrants. More than three million Russian Jews
immigrated to the United States between 1881 and 1914. They came in search of freedom and in
the hope of finding work. However, the Native Americans did not like them because they were
different. The truth is that there were more immigrants than jobs. Women and children worked
in dark, cramped rooms, making clothes by hand. Most worked 12 to 16 hours a day in extreme
temperatures and unsanitary conditions. Jewish immigrants were stereotyped as swindlers and
cheats. "Many had to beg to survive," said George Price, a Russian immigrant. As well as these,
there are thousands of thousands of experiences of people who suffered just for immigrating to a
country of their origin.
Finally, I would like to recommend this book, because with this you understand about the
United States in the 1900's, which for me, was a racist country full of exploitation. Also, it
makes you feel that you learn much more about the problems that led to immigration and its
consequences and thanks to this it creates a curiosity that leads you to investigate more, which
makes you know more of history.