The Long Way Home Sparknotes

The Long Way Home: An American Journey From Ellis Island to the Great War by the award winning David Laskin, magnifies the struggles and difficulties that Meyer Epstein, Antonio Pierro and many other immigrants faced as they entered America during World War I. Laskin’s extensive education in historical writing is evident throughout the very detailed book as it almost comes to life. With a bachelors in history and literature from the prestigious Harvard University, Laskin has mastered his writing skills. Laskin’s historic novel The Children’s Blizzard received “The Washington State Book” award which depicted a sudden winter storm in the upper midwest killing many settler children. The Long Way Home exposes the experiences of twelve immigrant

A European Jew and an Italian were brought together by the idea of a new life. Epstein journeyed to America, just as his father did previously, while he was at a young age because the choice was between “prosperity and poverty, freedom and oppression, shtetl and tenement, democracy and autocracy… life and death” (Laskin 2010, p. 2). Pierro, who voyaged to America just as his father did like young Epstein, “trudged through Ellis Island in the company of hundreds of other southern Italians” (Laskin 2010, p. 41) through the malaria infested Italian slums in hope for new opportunities. These brave men took it upon themselves to leave their families and homes to start new in such unfamiliar

This would only be the beginning of their new nationality. Where these men lacked in daily life, the made up for during the war. Epstein and Pierro became somewhat of icons. Epstein stepped up before his first chance to even get on the battlefield to be a high standing official. The veterans did not care too much for him but that in itself was enough. Pierro was quite the cavalry leader. He had a different connection and understanding with the horses most men abuse. He took it upon his self to learn French to better communicate with an animal he utilized so majestically. Despite the fact that “the nearer we get to the trenches the less we think about war in its larger aspects… our own particular job fills our time and thoughts” (Laskin 2010, p.233) and these mean still wanted to be front line of one of the bloodiest moments in history,.for