"Human beings are movers and wanderers. Spanning oceans, crossing continents, they search always for that better place to be. And as they go, they carry with them not just clothing, not just furniture, but memories, habits, songs, customs, ways of doing things--all the storehouse of shared knowledge that will help make their new homes familiar and comfortable. These, then, are the Old Ways in the New World: the hand, heart and mind skills that people from a hundred parts of the globe have brought with them as their gift to a new homeland."

More than 90 percent of all Americans recognize themselves as heirs to cultural traditions brought to ...