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134 Michigan Historical Review immediately became “Americans” as soon as they reached America and that they almost instantly began fighting Indians in an irregular, nonEuropean fashion. Although this reviewer concedes that some hybridization of Indian and European warfare occurred and that “rangering” was an important development, the overwhelming preponderance of professional, European-style armies that fought in the Seven Years’ War, the American Revolution, and the Civil War make Grenier’s exceptionalist claims of Americanization and irregular war practices seem a bit like exceptions themselves. Finally, Grenier’s failure to address racism against Indians as a determinant in shaping “American” warfare is problematic. His assertion in a footnote that “scholars now agree that racial attitudes took time to develop” in North America is debatable, and had he delved deeper into issues of race, his study might have turned out much differently (p. 11). However, these critiques should not deter readers from what is an otherwise important contribution to the ongoing debate over exactly what early “American” warfare was and where it originated. Wesley T. Joyner University of Southern Mississippi Rosina J. Hassoun. Arab Americans in Michigan. “Discovering the Peoples of Michigan” series. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2005. Pp. 84. Appendices. For further reference. Illustrations. Index. Notes. Paper, $12.95. Arab Americans in Michigan offers a brief but useful survey of its topic. Emphasizing the processes of immigration and assimilation, the book offers a wide-ranging description of Michigan’s Arab American communities, the challenges they face, and some of the scholarship on these topics. As such, the book is not a work of history, but it is sufficiently historically informed to be of interest to historians of immigration, ethnicity, Michigan, and the Arab world. Between the book’s introduction and closing summary are five chapters, some of them fewer than five pages long. In the introduction, the author situates her inquiry within the effects on Arab Americans of the attacks of September 11, 2001, asserting that they inaugurated a “crucial period for increasing understanding” (p. 2). She proceeds to describe the current state of demographic data on Arab Americans in the United States and the difficulties of compiling it. The first chapter, Book Reviews 135 “The Origins of Arab Americans in Michigan,” locates Arab immigration within the larger process of rural-to-urban migration in the Arab world. Hassoun reports that the majority of Arab immigrants to Michigan are of rural origin and that many retain firm ties to their villages. The chapter “Understanding General Patterns of Settlement” compares how scholars have periodized the process of Arab immigration to the United States; the author believes that American immigration legislative acts of 1924, 1952, and 1965 were watersheds. She also asks whether 2001 might mark the beginning of a new exclusionary period. In the chapter “Selected Histories by Geographic Areas,” Hassoun relates with little analysis some historically significant events for Arab American communities in Flint, Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Grand Rapids. She also identifies several Arab American institutions in those cities. The author returns to the theme of immigration in the subsequent chapter, “The History of Arab Immigration to South East Michigan.” Here she states that Arabs arrived in Detroit in waves. The first, beginning in the late nineteenth century, ended in 1952. It was followed by a wave extending from 1952 to 1967 and then another that lasted from 1967 to 1990. The most recent surge of immigration began in 1991 and was characterized by the flight of Iraqis from their homeland. The same chapter describes the spatial organization and distinctive characteristics of communities in Dearborn’s Southend, East Dearborn, and the Seven Mile/Woodward Avenue area. The final chapter, “Special Topics Concerning Arab Americans in Michigan,” contains observations on family structures, gender relations, diets, and the incidence of disease. There are also two appendices, one a recipe for hummus, and the other a short list of resources for scholars and interested citizens. What Arab Americans in Michigan lacks in analysis and depth is counterbalanced by its accessibility and range of information. It is a resource for policymakers, citizens, high-school students, undergraduates, and even established scholars seeking an introduction to this field. The book would also be...

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