Title Becoming old stock : the paradox of German-American identity / Russell A. Kazal

Published Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©2004

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Description 1 online resource (xvii, 383 pages) : illustrations Contents German Philadelphia : a social portrait -- Two neighborhoods -- The gendered crisis of the Vereinswesen -- Destinations : the ambiguous lure of mass commercial and consumer culture -- Destinations : fractured whiteness, "American" identity, and the "Old stock" opening -- Resisting assimilation : middle-class and working-class approaches -- European war and ethnic mobilization -- Intervention, the anti-German panic, and the fall of public Germanness -- An ethnicity subdued -- Changing neighborhoods-- Middle-class Germans : American identity and the "stock" of "our forefathers" -- Workers and Catholics : toward the "white ethnic" -- Pluralism, nationalism, race, and the fate of German America Summary "More Americans trace their ancestry to Germany than to any other country. Arguably, German Americans form America's largest ethnic group. Yet they have a remarkably low profile today, reflecting a dramatic, twentieth-century retreat from German-American identity. In this age of multiculturalism, why have German Americans gone into ethnic eclipse - and where have they ended up? Becoming Old Stock represents the first in-depth exploration of that question. The book describes how German Philadelphians reinvented themselves in the early twentieth century, especially after World War I brought a nationwide anti-German backlash." "Using quantitative methods, oral history, and a cultural analysis of written sources, the book explores how, by the 1920s, many middle-class and Lutheran residents had redefined themselves in "old-stock" terms - as "American" in opposition to southeastern European "new immigrants." It also examines working-class and Catholic Germans, who came to share a common identity with other European immigrants, but not with newly arrived black Southerners." "Becoming Old Stock sheds light on the way German Americans used race, American nationalism, and mass culture to fashion new identities in place of ethnic ones. It is also an important contribution to the growing literature on racial identity among European Americans. In tracing the fate of one of America's largest ethnic groups, Becoming Old Stock challenges historians to rethink the phenomenon of ethnic assimilation and to explore its complex relationship to American pluralism."--Jacket Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-370) and index Notes Print version record Subject Philadelphia PA German Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- Ethnic identity German Americans -- Cultural assimilation -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia White people -- Race identity -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia German Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- Social conditions -- 20th century Immigrants -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- Social conditions -- 20th century Social classes -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- History -- 20th century Ethnicity -- United States -- Case studies Cultural pluralism -- United States -- Case studies HISTORY -- United States -- General. Cultural pluralism Ethnicity German Americans -- Cultural assimilation German Americans -- Ethnic identity German Americans -- Social conditions Immigrants -- Social conditions Race relations Social classes Social conditions White people -- Race identity Ethnische Identität Pennsylvaniadeutsche Soziale Situation Duitsers. Etnisch bewustzijn. Assimilatie (sociologie) Américains d'origine allemande -- États-Unis -- Pennsylvanie (États-Unis) -- Identité collective. Américains d'origine allemande -- États-Unis -- Pennsylvanie (États-Unis) -- Conditions sociales -- 20e siècle. Tyskar -- historia -- Förenta staterna -- Philadelphia -- 1900-talet. Philadelphia (Pa.) -- Race relations Philadelphia (Pa.) -- Social conditions -- 20th century Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia United States Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pa. USA Deutsche. Genre/Form Case studies History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780691223674 069122367X

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