Editorial Note

This issue of Polish American Studies takes us on a journey from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Schenectady, New York, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Toronto, Canada. The articles extend the geographical reach of Polish American history and culture, as well as the chronological framework from the period of the Civil War to the contemporary times. In each case, the authors challenge existing views about the Polish American experience, posit new ways of re-examining available evidence, and offer nuanced interpretations.In the first article, James S. Pula recovers the unknown story of Polish immigrants in the South prior to and during the Civil War with a focus on New Orleans. The author confronts the assumption that Poles near unanimously rejected slavery and supported the Union effort. Instead, he argues that the community was divided in their views of slavery and the war much like the rest of the nation at that time.A son of Polish immigrants to Schenectady, New York, William J. Tonesk, who established his professional career in US intelligence and diplomacy, is at the center of an article by Anna Mazurkiewicz. The author broadens her lens to examine the circumstances of Tonesk's education in the 1930s, which gave him a head start to his successful professional life. Tonesk's example, although unique, is also a story of American Polonia and its organizations and their effort to provide educational support for the second generation.Stephen M. Leahy reevaluates the history of the Marches on Milwaukee in 1967–1968, which led to the passage of a strong open housing city ordinance. The route of the first two marches ran through the Polish American community and evoked a racist response from some of its residents. Leahy argues, however, that the subsequent counterprotests were instigated by white power organizations, culminating in the John Birch Society coopting the counterprotesters into its political agenda.Grażyna J. Kozaczka introduces Eve Zaremba, a Polish Canadian feminist writer and activist and author of a series of detective stories featuring a lesbian detective. Zaremba's journey from Kalisz, Poland, through her childhood spent in Warsaw, the family's wartime travails, the exile in Scotland, and finally immigration to Canada are described in Zaremba's memoir. In her later years, Zaremba's queer identity separated her from both some of her family members and from the Polish Canadian community.In the reviews section, we present books by Toni Reavis, Ashley Johnson Bavery, Raymond Lesniak, Brianne Turczynski, Annemarie Steidl, and Anthony Bajdek as well as a volume edited by Marta Kijewska-Trembecka and Ewa Michna.

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