by Theodore Saloutos (Author)

They Remember America by Theodore Saloutos tackles a big blind spot in U.S. immigration history: the people who went back. Using Greek-Americans as a focused case, Saloutos studies voluntary repatriation primarily from 1908-1924 (peaking around 1911-14 and 1919-21), noting that millions across nationalities declared intentions to return. He frames the project as a prototype others could replicate for Italians, Poles, English, etc., where archives are richer. With little prior scholarship to lean on, he builds a mixed, field-driven method: preliminary interviews in U.S. Greek communities; shipboard conversations en route to Greece; then extensive, on-the-ground interviewing across Athens, provincial cities, and islands. He triangulates with whatever official and press sources he can find, while openly flagging constraints--thin archives, recall biases, performative answers, bystander interference, and the emotional volatility of a population shaped by war, occupation, and civil conflict.

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