"Nearly everyone in America came from somewhere else. This is a fundamental part of the American idea--an identity and place open to everyone. People arrive from all points distant, speaking a thousand languages, carrying every culture, each with their own reason for uprooting themselves to try something new. Everyone has their own unique story. Little America is a collection of those stories, told by the people who lived them. Together, they form a wholly original, at times unexpected portrait of America's immigrants, and thereby a portrait of America itself." -- back cover.