Description
Book SynopsisReconstructs the settlement patterns of thirty-three immigrant groups and confirms the emergence of discrete culture regions and regional way stations. Douglas K. Meyer argues that mid-continental Illinois symbolizes a historic test-strip of the diverse population origins that unfolded during the Great Migration.
Trade Review“Anyone interested in regional culture soon comes to appreciate studies of population origin. Birthplace information for early settlers provides the best measure available for migration patterns. It also has proved important in understanding past and present variations in agricultural practices, architecture, political behavior, and even the growth of cities. Douglas Meyer has devoted his scholarly life to tabulating and interpreting heretofore unpublished birthplace data from the 1850 Illinois census. We should be grateful for his efforts.”—
The Annals of Iowa“Meyer’s work provides impressive evidence of the demographic, economic, and settlement dynamics in the state of Illinois in the middle of the nineteenth century, out of which emerged a distinctive Midwestern culture that would subsequently influence national culture.”—
The American Historical Review
