Lithuanian Diaspora: Knigsberg to Chicago - Hardcover

...a bold study tracing the intellectual roots of Lithuanian consciousness and its clash with Western concepts of nationality...an important contribution to the question of national identity.... -- Rev. Dr. Vytautas Bagdonavicius, Draugas Lithuanian Daily * American Baltic News * ...a thoroughly-researched investigation of Lithuanian ethnicity.... -- Mark Wyman, Illinois State University * American Baltic News * The author provides a unique perspective on the immigrant experience by describing the impact of older intellectual traditions on Lithuanian communities in America. He succeeds admirably.... -- Jeffrey Brooks, Florida State University * American Baltic News * An illuminating study of a neglected but important subject in the history of American immigration. -- Arthur Mann, University of Chicago * American Baltic News * From the title of this book it might appear that the author proposes to give an account of all the Lithuanian communities which lie between Konigsberg and Chicago. But this is not in fact the case. Van Reenan intends the distance between the two locations to be understood not in a geographical but in an intellectual sense. To him, they represent the difference in attitude between two phases of Lithuanian national consciousness....[and] of great value to students of Russia and the Soviet Union. -- James D. White, University of Glascow (Scotland) in THE SLAVONIC REVIEW * American Baltic News * This well-documented book deals with the preservation of Lithuanian culture on American soil and sheds light on what being "Lithuanian" is....recommended reading for all.... * American Baltic News * ...a bold study tracing the intellectual roots of Lithuanian consciousness and its clash with Western concepts of nationality...an important contribution to the question of national identity.... -- Rev. Dr. Vytautas Bagdonavicius, Draugas Lithuanian Daily * American Baltic News * ...a thoroughly-researched investigation of Lithuanian ethnicity.... -- Mark Wyman, Illinois State University * American Baltic News * The author provides a unique perspective on the immigrant experience by describing the impact of older intellectual traditions on Lithuanian communities in America. He succeeds admirably.... -- Jeffrey Brooks, Florida State University * American Baltic News * An illuminating study of a neglected but important subject in the history of American immigration. -- Arthur Mann, University of Chicago * American Baltic News * From the title of this book it might appear that the author proposes to give an account of all the Lithuanian communities which lie between Konigsberg and Chicago. But this is not in fact the case. Van Reenan intends the distance between the two locations to be understood not in a geographical but in an intellectual sense. To him, they represent the difference in attitude between two phases of Lithuanian national consciousness....[and] of great value to students of Russia and the Soviet Union. -- James D. White, University of Glascow (Scotland) in THE SLAVONIC REVIEW * American Baltic News *

This book traces the development of a Lithuanian sense of peoplehood and unravels their invisible configuration of values. By analyzing the dynamics of their diaspora mentality, the work presents a picture of a people armed with an ideology that enables them to nonviolently confront the first principles of American nationality. Contents: Old World Roots; Emergence of a Lithuanian Community in Chicago; A New Wave of Emigration in the Making; Exiles Not Immigrants; Establishment of Institutions to Deflect Assimilation; A Catholic Identity; Lithuanian Involvement in Organized Political Action.