Love in a Global Village

In praise of diversity, Jessie Grearson and Lauren Smith offer Love in a Global Village: A Celebration of Intercultural Families in the Midwest, an account of the triumphs of fifteen intercultural families and the perseverance of their relationships in midwestern America.Love in a Global Village presents love stories in which couples recount their courtships, their adventures and difficulties, and their individual choices to build lives together despite differences of race, language, religion, and culture. Divided into four sections, the book presents a progression from early courtship and marriage to raising children and preserving multiple cultures and traditions.Welcomed into homes in towns like Kalona, Iowa, and Springfield, Missouri, Grearson and Smith introduce readers to unexpected fusions of culture in middle America. In one home an answering machine greets callers in both English and Mandarin. in another, wedding photos show a freckled Iowan bride dressed for a traditional Sikh wedding ceremony.By focusing on small communities where intercultural relationships are exceptions rather than the norm, Smith and Grearson offer affirmation that multicultural households exist everywhere and can endure and flourish almost anywhere.