During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, immigrants from Spain, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Germany, England, and other European countries settled all across the American West. This collection of essays explores the rural and urban settlement patterns of these groups, their comparative histories, and the maintenance of their communities. Europeans came to the West from all directions via both coasts and Mexico. Luebke provides tables illustrating the distribution of foreign-born persons in the West and first- and second-generation immigrants by country of origin in the region.
In addition to the volume editor, contributors include Henry Warner Bowden, Robert C. Ostergren, Dean L. May, David M. Emmons, Dino Cinel, William Toll, Anna Zellick, Carol K. Coburn, Josef J. Barton, and Royden K. Loewen.