Dr. Gilberto Fernandes earned his doctoral degree in 2014 at York University, where he has since been a Post-Doctoral Visitor with the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies and the Department of History. His research on the history of Portuguese migration, ethnicity, race, and international relations in North America has been published in various refereed journals. Together with his academic work, Dr. Fernandes is an active public historian and documentary filmmaker involved in multiple initiatives in Toronto, including the Portuguese Canadian History Project, of which he is co-founder and president since 2008; and the multidimensional project “City Builders: A History of Immigrant Construction Workers in Postwar Toronto,” winner of the 2019 Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation.
This Pilgrim Nation explores the social, cultural, economic, and political processes involved in the development of the Portuguese communities in the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada. With insightful description, and historiography, this excellent book will appeal to cultivated readers interested in modern history, emigration studies, transnational cultural and political history of the 'global 1960s, ' and small communities of citizens of Portuguese descent. - Antonio Costa Pinto, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon