The latest release from the West Virginia Press, “Transnational West Virginia: Ethnic Communities and Economic Change, 1840-1940,”is a scholarly work representing 12 essays exploring the important role ethnic immigration has played in shaping West Virginias history.

West Virginia is today one of the most homogenous states in the nation with some of the lowest proportions of foreign-born and minority populations among the states. This book, however, demonstrates that the state was built by successive waves of immigrant laborers, from the antebellum railroad builders to the 20th century coal miners. It was the skills and labor of these migrants that made modern West Virginia. The essays in this collection warrant a reevaluation of the development of the Mountain State �€one that focuses more on the role of migrant and immigrant labor contributions and connects the state with the great labor migrations and international capitalism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This collection of essays by many distinguished scholars from in and around the state addresses the immigration movements into West Virginia and the diverse ethnic settlements that consequently developed. The collection addresses Irish immigration along the B-&-O Railroad, Germans in Wheeling during the Civil War, Swiss immigration, East European Jews in Southern West Virginia, Italians in the UpperKanawhaValley and MarionCounty and many other immigration and settlement patterns.

The book is the first volume in the Presss West Virginia and Appalachia series, edited by Ronald L. Lewis, the Stuart and Joyce Robbins chair in history at WVU , and Kenneth Fones-Wolf, associate professor of history at the University. The first volume in the series should become an invaluable resource for studies of West Virginia and Appalachian history and American immigration history, said Patrick Conner, director of the Press.

The Press is committed to publishing books that explore West Virginia and Appalachian history and culture, and will also be publishing the second volume in the series this fall called”The Blackwater Chronicle,”Conner said. This humorously told, but poignant travelogue by Philip Pendleton Kennedy, was edited by WVU English professor Timothy Sweet, who also wrote a new introduction for the book. The book was originally published in 1853 and details the exploration of the CanaanValley region of the state.

For more information about these titles or any other books published by the _ WVU Press,_ call 304-293-8400, or visitwww.wvupress.com