From Syria to Seminole: Memoir of a High Plains Merchant (review)

2007Book Reviews245 expected aposde-like devotion from his fellow union officers, paying them five dollars per week plus room and board. He drove the UFW as his own creation and took direction and criticism from no one. The book contains, however, some shortcomings. The author draws heavily and uncritically from Catholic documents. Attention to outside sources would have helped immensely by either supporting Prouty's thesis or complicating his story. The overuse of quoted material is quite distracting. Quotations appear in virtually every paragraph. Ironically, the strongest portions of the book are those in which Prouty expounds, in his own words, on the significance of his story and the actions of his characters. Despite such shortcomings the book provides a rich and interesting look into the relationship between the Church, Chavez, and the UFW. While its contribution to scholarly history is limited, readers interested in Catholic history, or in the farmworkers' movement itself, will find it attractive. Texas A&M University-Corpus ChristiAnthony Quiroz From Syria to Seminole: Memoirofa High Plains Merchant. By Ed Aryain, edited byj'Nell Pate. (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2006. Pp. 298. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 0896725863. $29.95, cloth.) In 1913 fifteen-year-old Mohammed Aryain walked 120 miles from his native Druze village, Henna, Syria, to Beirut and sailed for the United States, intending to remain ten years, earn a fortune, and return to Syria to secure a better life for his family. Upon arrival in NewYork, Aryain knew no English and had litde money. Fortunately, a network of Syrian immigrants led him to Rochester, Pennsylvania, where a Syrian merchant provided a new suit, suitcases of merchandise, and sent him on his way to a peddling career. Syrian American friends suggested a name change. Mohammed Aryain became Ed Aryain, and he headed for Beatrice, Nebraska . He covered an immense portion of the Great Plains and the oil towns of Texas and Oklahoma, where endless hard work and a talent for selling paid very well. This success led Aryain into proprietorship: a mercantile store in Navasota, Texas, which profited admirably until the store burned, and with it, everything Aryain had accumulated. Attracted by the southern High Plains land boom, Aryain looked there for a new start, tried retail stores in four different towns, relying upon strict but dependable credit lines with Dallas and Fort Worth wholesalers. The vagaries of High Plains weather and their boom or bust effect on cotton agriculture often dashed the high hopes ofboth farmers and merchants. Besides those troubles, in one town, shameful, sometimes violent, antiforeign and especially anti-Middle Eastern prejudices drove Aryain to look elsewhere. He found his permanent American home in Seminole, Texas. Despite the often dubious oudook forfuture prosperity, Ed married Etta E. Stone in May 1925, which Ed readily acknowledged as the best thing ever to happen to him. The Aryains often made their home in the back of their stores; Etta, besides her roles as wife and mother oftwo sons, became Ed's business partner and a shrewd one, too. 246Southwestern Historical QuarterlyOctober The Great Depression brought business disaster and only very narrowly did the Aryains survive. World War II created a great demand but a paucity of goods, but the postwaryears brought long-term prosperity and, for Ed and Etta, a four-monthlong , poignant visit to Ed's homeland—forty-eight years after his intended return in ten. This book of reminiscences began as the Aryain sons quizzed dieir father about his early life. One story led to another as Etta Aryain recorded them by typewriter. Son Edward put events in chronological order and cut repetitious material. Thus was the typescript when it came to editorJ'Nell Pate who, with a light pencil, edited only to smooth literary rough spots. Where necessary to explain or elaborate a point, Dr. Pate cited pertinent sources. She left Ed Aryain to tell his story straightforwardly and charmingly. Immigration, ethnic, and High Plains economic historians should find From Syria to Seminoleofinterest as should local historians ofthe southern High Plains, Gaines County, and especially ofSeminole. And it occurs to this reviewer diat persons who grew up in the homes ofreticent immigrants may find insights into their own family...