"UCLA PUBLISHES FIRST BOOK ON PATELS IN THE UNITED STATES BY GOVIND B. BHAKTA"

The UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press announces the publication of PATELS:  A GUJARATI COMMUNITY HISTORY IN THE UNITED STATES written by Govind B. Bhakta. The book is designed to provide a comprehensive report on the most significant social, historical, social, and demographic characteristics of the Indo-American Patidar of the Surat, Bulsar, and Navsari districts of Gujarat State, India. The book, the first of its kind, documents extensively the immigration and settlement of Indo-American Patels to the U.S., focusing on the 1960s to the present.

Patels are highly visible on the American urban landscape, especially in motel business throughout the nations, although Patels are also found in many professions including doctors, lawyers, and teachers. This book is an invaluable guide to the Patel Indian contribution to American entrepreneurship culture, and the professions through the eyes of first and second generation individuals, households, and community organizations. The book has photographs, charts, tables, and listing of community organizations in addition to biographies of Patel business people.

PATELS, praised by Prof. Karen Leonard of the University of California, Irvine, as "a fine introduction to a community very important in both India and America," contains ten chapters, two dozen charts, glossaries, and maps . The chapters include: Patels and the Gujarati Homeland; Patel Migration within India; From India to America; Settlement, Entrepreneurship and Business, Success Stories, Socioeconomic Characteristics, Education and Language, Dating and Marriage, The Generation Gap, and Other Traditions.

According to Govind Bhakta, a former professor of mathematics in India and a businessman today in Orange County, California: "The book is a product of a seven and a half year project This study may be considered as a case study of Patels from Gujarat. So little is known about our Indian American Patels--their roots, their settlement in the U.S., their experiences."

Until the publication of PATELS, only scattered articles or historical studies existed; this book brings the reader up-to-date on a vital Indo-American population in the United States.

The book is available for purchase through the UCLA AASC Press Publications. Please click here for more information and ordering information.