Edward Steiner spent his life figuring out how America manages to take in aliens from all over the world, who bring with them a huge diversity of beliefs, habits, ethics, prejudices, expectations, etc., throws them into the "melting pot", and within a few generations most are shaped into full blooded Americans. This rarely happens in Europe, where people move from country to country but rarely become countrymen. Steiner, a wonderful writer, relates his own experience as a young penniless immigrant who, after becoming successful, devoted his life to helping newcomers adjust, lecturing around the world and writing numerous books on immigration. This one is his personal story: his arduous trek from home country to the American "sweat shop, the mills and mines with their grinding labor, the open courts, the jail, the open road with its dangers", experiences in American homes and schools and the Christian Church, his evolution from Jew to Christian minister, University Professor, and immigration scholar. ~ Summary by Michele Fry