Mass Migration under Sail: European Immigration to the Antebellum United States

Description

Dr Cohn provides an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of the economic history of European immigration to the antebellum United States, using and evaluating the available data as well as presenting fresh data. This analysis centers on immigration from the three most important source countries - Ireland, Germany, and Great Britain - and examines the volume of immigration, how many individuals came from each country during the antebellum period, and why those numbers increased. The book also analyzes where they came from within each country; who chose to immigrate; the immigrants' trip to the United States, including estimates of mortality on the Atlantic crossing; the jobs obtained in the United States by the immigrants, along with their geographic location; and the economic effects of immigration on both the immigrants and the antebellum United States. No other book examines so many different economic aspects of antebellum immigration.

Review of the hardback: 'An absorbing, lucid, and beautifully crafted book. Mass Migration under Sail is the story of how five million Europeans committed - irrevocably for the most part - to new lives in the United States in the half-century or so before the advent of the steamship. The journey then was a riskier and more challenging experience than it would be under steam. As Raymond Cohn explains, this influenced the migration in many interesting ways. Yet the vast majority of migrants survived the long and often very unpleasant voyage, and adapted well to the manifold challenges facing them on the other side. This is international economic history at its best.' Cormac O Grada University College Dublin and author of Famine: A Short History Review of the hardback: 'Mass Migration under Sail is a masterful and definitive account of U.S. antebellum immigration. Ray Cohn presents an insightful history about who the immigrants were, why they came, their travel experiences and how significant it was for American society and its economy. His book is highly accessible, given his clear writing style and his penchant for thorough explanations. Scholars and teachers will be able to use this book for their own scholarly work in migration history as well as for lectures on American immigration, economic and demographic history. Mass Migration under Sail is an important contribution not only to migration history but also to the fields of economic and social history.' Simone A. Wegge City University of New York Review of the hardback: 'Professor Cohn has dealt expertly with and has produced an highly accessible description of, one of the world's great migrations. A period when foreigners endured terrible hardships to improve their lives. These skilled migrants transformed a young nation and laid the foundations of one of the world's great superpowers.' Open History 'Cohn presents an inclusive examination of the causes and consequences of antebellum U.S. immigration from the perspective of two disciplines and both sides of the Atlantic ... Specialists will be familiar with much of the material from Cohn's earlier articles, but like non-specialists, they will benefit from having all of this work in one place with its interrelations explored.' The Journal of Interdisciplinary History