Synopses & Reviews
As fresh in 1991 as when it first published a half-century ago, Boston's Immigrants illuminates the history of a particular city and an important phase of the American experience. Focusing on the life of people from the perspective of the social historian, the book explores a wide range of subjects: peasants society and the cause of European migration, population growth and industrial development, the ideology of progress and Catholic thought, and urban politics and the dynamic of prejudice. A generation of students and scholars has profited from its insights, and general readers have enjoyed its lively style. A new preface by the author reflects upon the book's intellectual origins.
Review
An excellent case study in the great problem of social assimilation. One feature, among others, that stands out clearly is its refutation of the all-too-comforting and popular notion that the American community, local or national, has been able to accept great contingencies of foreign population without experiencing significant and lasting modifications of its own cultural features. American Sociological Review
Review
An excellent case study in the great problem of social assimilation. One feature, among others, that stands out clearly is its refutation of the all-too-comforting and popular notion that the American community, local or national, has been able to accept great contingencies of foreign population without experiencing significant and lasting modifications of its own cultural features. -- Richard A. Posner - Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit -
Review
This book has helped raise this field of American studies to a high level of distinction and satisfaction. Nathan Glazer
Review
Handlin has opened a new field for historical research. New Leader
Synopsis
1942 John H. Dunning Prize, American Historical Association
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-362) and index.
About the Author
Oscar Handlin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, is Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Emeritus, <>Harvard University. He is the editor of This Was America.
Table of Contents
Preface to the 1991 edition
Foreword
1. Social Boston, 1790-1845
2. The Process of Arrival, 1790-1865
3. The Economic Adjustment
4. The Physical Adjustment
5. Conflict of Ideas
6. The Development of Group Consciousness
7. Group Conflict
8. An Appearance of Stability
Appendix
Note on the Statistics of Immigration into Boston
Note to Table 8
Tables
Abbreviations and Note on Source
Notes
Index