Bound for America: The Story of the European Immigrants (Great Journeys)

Meltzer, Milton

ISBN 10: 0761412271 ISBN 13: 9780761412274

Publisher: Cavendish Square, 2002

Synopsis

Among the authors of this highly acclaimed series are Laura Ingalls Wilder Award winner Milton Meltzer, Coretta Scott King Award winner James Haskins and noted author Raymond Bial. The series itself focuses on major population shifts in America and the driving forces behind them. The authors' vivid accounts are given additional immediacy with the inclusion of excerpts from diaries, newspaper articles and letters.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grades 6-10--Before focusing on emigration from Europe from about the 1820s to the 1920s, Meltzer considers the topic of migration itself. He invites his readers to think about the reasons that people left their homelands and explains that more Europeans moved within their countries than across the Atlantic during this period. He then explores the specific forces (economic and otherwise) in Ireland, Germany, Eastern Europe, Italy, and other places that motivated people to immigrate. The remaining chapters focus on the trials of endurance in crossing the ocean in steerage, going through the immigration process, beginning a new life in sweatshops and slums, and, ultimately, becoming American. At the same time he emphasizes how the experience of immigrants depended on each individual's skills and social background. A short chapter on immigrants since the end of the 1960s concludes the book. Meltzer knows how to pace his presentation, and his style is always lucid and graceful. Well-chosen black-and-white photos and reproductions complement this excellent volume.
Elizabeth Talbot, University of Illinois, Champaign
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cavendish Square
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0761412271
• ISBN 13: 9780761412274
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 112