Daily Life in Immigrant America 1820-1870

Early-nineteenth-century America experienced the first wave of immigration after Independence when Germans Irish English Scandinavians and on the West Coast even Chinese began to arrive in significant numbers. These new settlers had a profound impact on such national developments as westward expansion urban growth industrialization city and national politics and the Civil War.James M. Bergquist''s chronicle of the early immigrants'' experiences describes where they came from what their journey to America was like and where they entered the new nation and where they eventually settled. He highlights immigrant contributions to American life as well as their struggles to gain wider acceptance by the mainstream culture. The approach similar to David Kyvig''s highly successful Daily Life in the United States 19201940 (published by Ivan R. Dee in 2004) presents history with an appealing immediacy on a level that everyone can understand.