Coming to Miami

"This history of Miami's development over the twentieth century integrates the city's story into the larger narrative of U.S. immigration and the histories of the American South, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Beginning with the Bahamian and Jewish populations who arrived shortly after the city's founding, through the West Indian, Cuban, Haitian, and other Latino groups who immigrated en masse in the second half of the century, this book interweaves the experiences of Miami's diverse communities into a compelling whole." "Melanie Shell-Weiss skillfully examines issues of gender, race, and cultural identity but also pays close attention to labor, economics, and working-class organization and activism, all of which played a role in shaping and reshaping the city into America's premier polyglot." "From pineapple groves to Cuban exiles to South Beach nightclubs, this impeccably researched and lucidly written book reveals much about the Magic City's multicultural diversity."--BOOK JACKET.