Summary Of The Long Way Home By David Laskin

During the early 20th century, immigration became a big situation in America as many immigrants would migrate here. Some came for the better economic opportunity while some came for the better change. Without speaking a hint of English, their life would soon be reshaped as their life will unravel soon. In the monograph The Long Way Home by David Laskin, he shared the lives of a dozen immigrants in their point of view. Laskin, a graduate from Harvard college is an American writer. In his book, Laskin detailed the hardships that they had to withstand. From trying to find their family knowing little English, to finding a decent home, these guys sacrificed a lot for their country and for what it is today.
Peter Thompson, born County Antrim in 1895, emigrated to America in 1914. At the age of 18, Peter left Ellis Island and left to America so that he could be with his family and to start working as a copper miner. During his journey, Peter boarded a train for Butte and while the frozen path to America did not stop him, he was not
He spent nearly the whole month of July marching and searching for action in France. Laskin described their journey as, “how much ground the covered…they felt as the real war went on without them” (pg. 226). As the war would continue on for him, it became rough. “Wet clothes, sore feet, long nights freezing” was how Laskin put it (pg. 293). On Meyer’s first day, everything was not quite what they hoped for. A German shell blew up causing eight men to be wounded. Meyer served as a Private in 141st Infantry, 36th Division. On September 26, Meyer was finally put into combat. It was five in the morning, Meyer and a couple of hundred men got the rifles and went into “Old trenches, shell holes, and destroyed farms, without a single living tree or structure” (pg. 250). That was only Meyer’s first day of active combat. As time passed, Meyer was steadily losing weight with little