Interweaving introspection with political commentaries, biography with history, The Promised Land (1912) brings to life the transformation of an East European Jewish immigrant into an American citizen. Mary Antin recounts "the process of uprooting, transportation, replanting, acclimitization, and development that took place in my own soul," and reveals the impact of a new culture and new standards of behavior on her family. A feeling of divisions?between Russia and America, Jews and Gentiles, Yiddish and English?ever-present in her narrative, is balanced by insights, amusing and serious, into ways to overcome them. In telling the story of one person, The Promised Land illuminates the lives of hundreds of thousands. This Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics edition includes eighteen black-and-white photographs from the book's first edition and reprints for the first time Antin's essay "How I wrote The Promised Land ."
It is hard to believe I never was required to read this wonderful book, and I am thankful to have discovered it as a result of reading a children's book based on it (by Rosemary Wells, also highly recommended) to my children. The circumstances of its writing are remarkable; the images luminous and the prose unbelievably beautiful for any author, especially for a recent immigrant. But it is the insight into her personality, culture and psyche which appeal to me the most. You will also like the personalities you meet through her. This book should be read by anyone who loves the English language, loves America, or just loves a window into the soul of another.
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