Immigrant Milwaukee, 1836-1860: Accommodation and Community in a Frontier City (Harvard studies in urban history)

A rich, measured and provocative study.The Journal of Economic History One of the best analyses of an immigrant group in an urban setting.History An excellent example of method in research and writing.The American Historical Review Exceptional.The Journal of American History Immigrant Milwaukee has become a classic work in immigration, urban, and community history. Drawing upon original census data as well as other historical source material, this study presents a coherent and lively picture of Milwaukees early history as a frontier and immigrant city. This edition features a substantial new introduction by the author and a new selection of historical illustrations. By focusing on Milwaukees large German population and its contrast to other ethnic groups, Conzen sheds light on the immigrant experience as a whole. The economic, social, and political conditions which fostered a strong sense of German ethnicity allowed new German immigrants a familiar and favorable environment in which to adjust to their new American lives, and enabled them to play a central role in constructing Milwaukees public culture. At the same time, those very conditions contributed to the ultimate dissolution of their communal identity. Conzens interpretation of the group immigrant experience as a process of accommodation and cultural construction remains fascinating and useful. Immigrant Milwaukee establishes itself as a model for urban and immigrant historical studies fashioned in a form appropriate and accessible to scholars, students, and all interested readers of early Wisconsin history.