Illustrious Immigrants: Intellectual Migration from Europe, 1930-41

From the 1st chapter, The Great Wave, quoted in part: " America has always been peopled by immigrants, and among them have always been some intellectuals, men and women educated abroad, who enriched our culture with products of their own. But the wave of intellectuals from continental Europe arriving in the thirties and early forties, driven here by the forces of intolerance and oppression, was so large and of such high quality that it constituted a new phenomenon in the history of immigration. Thousands of Europeans scattered over our country, bringing with them their baggage of general and specialized knowledge, their traditions, and their personal abilities. They settled in large cities and small college towns, toured from coast to coast to give concerts and dramatic performances, exhibited their art in local shows, and sold the products of their pens in bookstores everywhere as they entered our cultural life. Here it is my purpose to examine this wave, the circumstances under which it came and was received, and its performance in this country.............. A look into the great cultural wave of the thirties may reveal facts that are equally relevant today......"