Immigrants in Urban America

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that John Bodnar's book "The Transplanted--A History of Immigrants in Urban America" expresses a new and creative analysis of the common experience of mostly European immigrants who underwent the transition from being rural dwellers in Europe to city-living in the United States and concludes that these immigrants maintained a separate identity in their national traditions. The author points out that the book pictures the living conditions and political atmosphere in immigrants' country of origin, with special emphasis on those factors that spurred emigration, by using vivid descriptions of life and famine and poverty in Ireland, privations occasioned by World War I in Germany, anti-Jewish persecution in Eastern Europe and fascism in Italy. The paper concludes that the book provides information in both an overview format and ethnic group specific information; however, only two non-European ethnic groups are dealt with and there is a large quantity of examples and interpretations which sometimes makes the book difficult to read.

From the Paper:

"The book describes how early immigrants, with much needed industrial skills and arriving mostly from northern and Western Europe, were welcomed. However, the later immigrants arriving from southern and Eastern Europe, the focus of the book, were not welcomed by the "native born" Americans. These immigrants lacked skills and good breeding and came at a time when a large influx of unskilled labor was no longer a xenophobia (fear of strangers or aliens) that saw their way of life being threatened by the constant arrival of new immigrants with different values and ideas. These Americans saw their job security challenged by immigrants that were willing to accept lower wages to secure jobs."

More papers on Immigrants in Urban America:

• Comparison Essay # 146505 : "Immigration in the Early 20th Century"
• Analytical Essay # 106368 : "The Role of Immigration in Shaping American Cities"
• Term Paper # 26846 : "Immigrants to the United States"

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