They most certainly were different! Yankel’s great grandparents were living in America by 1885. If they were typical of their contemporaries who aspired above and beyond anything else to become Americans, they would have been well on their way down the perilous path to assimilation, by the time Yankel was born. The anthem that infused the immigrants of this era’s, oppressive lives with effulgent promise was the popular song, “I’m A Yankee Doodle Dandy.” This ...