How We Became Neighbors: History from Here and There Volume One

By Jasper Smith

This is a history of how people and communities have lived together. Their stories connect us throughout the world and throughout history. Some have always been here. Some came from near or far. Some came sooner or later. Some chose to come, and others were forced by various circumstances beyond their control. The community I love is diverse, complicated, and always struggling and striving for a better present and future for itself and its children.

The stories begin in all the continents and move through this continent and this country to this state and this region. There are social, cultural, economic, and political winds of change that have swept us here together to be a community with each other, and to hold onto each other as the winds continue to blow. This book is about how the winds of international, national, and local history have blown to create the communities we live in today so we may better understand one another.

Originally, I wanted to honor and celebrate my neighbors whose ancestors come from all over the world and yet we share a small city of about 10,000 people. I wanted to honor their histories and journeys, both their amazing contributions and the terrible things they have endured. In the end, this book about the past is really about our future. I wrote this book in the hope that we will find a way to live together, embracing everyone from everywhere in a healthy, peaceful, loving, and understanding community of all of us, the people, the land, the waters, the air, all living things and all things we can relate to with love and connection.

I write from the perspective of a curious and caring neighbor. How did my friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers come to be in this place from Asia, Africa, Europe, Pacific Islands, and throughout the Americas? This story explores who my neighbors are, how they came to be my neighbors, and how we as a community have treated each other. To understand these questions, we must look through the centuries and millennia, across the Americas, and around the world. My neighbors in a small city in western Oregon are similar to neighbors all over the US. Understanding my neighbors here helps to understand neighbors in other places.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FGWN193S
• ISBN13: 9798291186169
• Release Date: July 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 594 Pages
• Weight: 1.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"