Joseph Velikonja

Book Review: The Italian Americans. Troubled RootsThe Italian Americans. Troubled Roots. By RolleAndrew. New York: The Free Press, 1980. Paperback edition, Norman: The University of Oklahoma Press, 1984. Pp. xviii + 222.

with their adopted country. In successive chapters, Heilbut describes the tortured uncertainty of being a refugee in transit, the first impressions of America, and the problems faced by the exiles after arrival. The book sometimes leaves a kaleidoscopic impression as it jumps from one individual destiny to another, and the author also has some difficulty in confining his narrative to the books stated subject. There is much discussion of Walter Benjamin, for example, although he never succeeded in reaching the United States. There is likewise much anecdotal information about such personalities as the filmmakers F.W. Murnau and Josef von Sternberg, both of whom arrived in the United States long before Hitlers rise to power. On the balance, however, Exiled in Paradiseproves to be a welcome contribution to the understanding of a significant phase in both German and American cultural history.

9.95.

In the voluminous elementary literature on population, Kammeyers short paperback deserves notice. The standard chapter titles promise a review of the study of population, an evaluation of data, a survey of population composition, mortality, fertility, migration and world population growth. A closer examination of the text reveals that the author has not been satisfied with a routine narration of the generally accepted notions of demographers but has expanded them with evaluative comments and substantive expansions in the social, cultural, and even economic parameters of population dynamics. The booklet presents a cautious, yet stimulating, review and will be a useful addition to the expanded literature on population written for the layman. The chapter on migration, in only 22 pages presents the nature of migration, the causes and consequences of migration, a brief review of theories of migration, from Ravenstein and Stouffer to Lee and Besher, with concluding remarks on the economic, social and cultural effect of migration for the individual and for the large population. The short presentation does not allow any depth or critical analysis of the theories. From this angle the booklet should not be accepted for anything more than it is: a brief introduction and not a thorough critical review of the population. The references and suggestions at each chapter lead to more specialized studies.