Daily Life in Immigrant America, 1820–1870 examines the crucial period in which mass immigration to the United States began of large numbers of persons almost exclusively from Western Europe into America. Mr. Bergquist, by explaining when so many were willing to leave home for a new land, describes in detail the gradually improving conditions of travel as an age of ... Read moresail became an age of steam. In a clear exposition he shows how the immigrants, largely German and Irish, settled on Midwestern farms and eastern and Midwestern cities, from Boston and New York to St. Louis and Chicago, as well as the beginnings of organized anti-immigrant movements and the contributions of immigrants in the Civil War era. . . . It contains many features helpful to the student, including a chronology, a glossary, detailed, topically organized bibliography, and listings of videos and useful internet sites.
Roger Daniels, University of Cincinnati In a masterful compilation that manages to achieve both depth and breadth, James M. Bergquist gives not only the Irish, Germans, and English but also smaller groups from Europe and Asia their due. Enriched by a transatlantic perspective and enlivened by individual examples, the book offers insights into social, religious, economic, and political developments as well as the cultural clashes and eventual accommodations that ensued during America’s first era of mass immigration.
Walter Kamphoefner Bergquist provides a thorough history of the immigrant experience during the 1820–1870 period. He captures the immigrants’ tumultuous movement into American life while also offering a detailed account of major events in U.S. history during this time. This book is well worth reading for students of American immigration and ethnicity.
Ronald Bayor With calm authority and unfaltering clarity, Bergquist has written the best history ever of his subject: immigration into the United States after its colonial settlement and before the great surge through Ellis Island. . . .The perfect history for those who want to learn more about the peopling of the US.
Publishers Weekly
Show Less