Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan
Book cover

German and Irish Immigrants in the Midwestern United States, 1850–1900

  • Book
  • © 2018

Overview

Authors:
  1. Regina Donlon

    1. Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Offers an innovative comparative approach for studying immigrant communities
  • Examines German and Irish immigrant communities through economic, social, cultural, religious, political and gendered lenses
  • Focuses on the American Midwest, which is underrepresented in scholarship on twentieth-century immigration and the Irish diaspora

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Regina Donlon
    Pages 1-22

  3. An Uncertain Future: Ireland, Germany and the United States at the Turn of the Century

    • Regina Donlon
    Pages 23-36

  4. Making the Transition: Irish and German Immigrants Arrive in the Midwest

    • Regina Donlon
    Pages 37-64

  5. A Peaceful Conquest: Immigrant Settlement in St Louis and Fort Wayne

    • Regina Donlon
    Pages 65-92

  6. Production, Enterprise, and Innovation: The Economic Activity of German and Irish Immigrants

    • Regina Donlon
    Pages 93-120

  7. A Reputation of Respectability: Social and Cultural Aspects of Immigrant Life

    • Regina Donlon
    Pages 121-145

  8. The Church on the Hill: Religious Entities in the American Midwest

    • Regina Donlon
    Pages 147-175

  9. From Discrimination to Domination: Immigrant Political Participation

    • Regina Donlon
    Pages 177-204

  10. Piety, Poverty and Perseverance: The Experience of Immigrant Women

    • Regina Donlon
    Pages 205-233

  11. Conclusion

    • Regina Donlon
    Pages 235-244

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 245-273
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

In the second half of the nineteenth century, hundreds of thousands of German and Irish immigrants left Europe for the United States. Many settled in the Northeast, but some boarded trains and made their way west. Focusing on the cities of Fort Wayne, Indiana and St Louis, Missouri, Regina Donlon employs comparative and transnational methodologies in order to trace their journeys from arrival through their emergence as cultural, social and political forces in their communities. Drawing comparisons between large, industrial St Louis and small, established Fort Wayne and between the different communities which took root there, Donlon offers new insights into the factors which shaped their experiences—including the impact of city size on the preservation of ethnic identity, the contrasting concerns of the German and Irish Catholic churches and the roles of women as social innovators. This unique multi-ethnic approach illuminates overlooked dimensions of the immigrant experience in the American Midwest.

Reviews

“Donlon’s book is original, methodologically rigorous and makes a genuine and welcome contribution to migration and diaspora historiography.” (Sarah Roddy, Irish Economic and Social History, November 10, 2019) “An innovative, scholarly and highly readable comparative history of German and Irish immigrants to America’s Midwest, which draws upon rich demographic and textual materials to unlock the parallel and entwined lives of what were mid-nineteenth-century America’s largest European immigrant groups.” (Donald M. MacRaild, Professor of British and Irish History, University of Roehampton, UK)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland

    Regina Donlon

About the author

Regina Donlon works in the Department of History at Maynooth University, Ireland. 

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation