Immigrants in the Lands of Promise: Italians in Buenos Aires and New York City, 1870-1914 / Edition 1

by Samuel L. Baily

Overview

Most studies of immigration to the New World have focused on the United States. Samuel L. Baily's eagerly awaited book broadens that perspective through a comparative analysis of Italian immigrants to Buenos Aires and New York City before World War I. It is one of the few works to trace Italians from their villages of origin to different destinations abroad. Baily examines the adjustment of Italians in the two cities, comparing such factors as employment opportunities, skill levels, pace of migration, degree of prejudice, and development of the Italian community. Of the two destinations, Buenos Aires offered Italians more extensive opportunities, and those who elected to move there tended to have the appropriate education or training to succeed. These immigrants, who adjusted more rapidly than their North American counterparts, adopted a long-term strategy of investing savings in their New World home. In New York, in contrast, the immigrants found fewer skilled and white-collar jobs, more competition from previous immigrant groups, greater discrimination, and a less supportive Italian enclave. As a result, rather than put down roots, many sought to earn money as rapidly as possible and send their earnings back to family in Italy. Baily views the migration process as a global phenomenon. Building on his richly documented case studies, the author briefly examines Italian communities in San Francisco, Toronto, and Sao Paulo. He establishes a continuum of immigrant adjustment in urban settings, creating a landmark study in both immigration and comparative history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801488825
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	02/15/2004
Series:	Cornell Studies in Comparative History
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.88(d)
Lexile:	1510L (what's this?)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Samuel L. Baily is Professor of History at Rutgers University. Among his other books are Labor, Politics and Nationalism in Argentina, The United States and the Development of South America, and One Family, Two Worlds (with Franco Ramella).

Table of Contents

Prologue: Migration from a Participant Family's Perspective
Introduction: The Comparative Study of Transnational Italian Migration
PART I: THE ITALIAN DIASPORA AND THE OLD AND NEW WORLD CONTEXTS OF MIGRATION
1. Italy and the Causes of Emigration
2. The Italian Migrations to Buenos Aires and New York City
3. What the Immigrants Found
PART II: THE ADJUSTMENT OF THE ITALIANS IN BUENOS AIRES AND NEW YORK CITY
4 Fare I America
5. Residence Patterns and Residential Mobility
6. Family, Household, and Neighborhood
7. Formal Institutions before the Mass Migration Era
8. Formal Institutions during the Mass Migration Era
9. Constructing a Continuum

What People are Saying About This

Donald S. Castro

Baily, through research stretching back over twenty years, is the pre-eminent scholar of Italian emigration to the western hemisphere. His detailed analysis of the process of relocation for Italians provides insights into the human struggle entailed in the search for a better life in the promised lands of the Americas... In providing a comparative analysis of the migration flows of Italians to both Americas... the book increases our understanding of their cultural underpinnings... In this era when many are seeking an appreciation of their roots, books such as Baily's are useful and necessary.

Frank Sturino

A welcome contribution to immigration studies, Immigrants in the Land of Promise will doubtless be recognized as a pioneering work with which future comparative research in the field will have to contend.

From the Publisher

This book is careful, thorough, impressively researched, and persuasively argued—an important contribution.

John Zucchi

Baily has finely crafted this study, and his argument makes sense.... This book can make a useful text in a migration history course.

Editorial Reviews

Immigrants in the Lands of Promise is exceptional in various regards. The book is written in a clear, economical style. Statistics and narrative are combined in a balanced, articulated, and useful manner... Baily's stubborn loyalty to quantititative methods produces important insights into issues that needed to be addressed and quantified.

Latin American Research Review - Ricardo D. Salvatore

The author examines the way in which groups of immigrants coming from various parts of Italy adapted to the realities of their new situation... Baily's approach... makes his work a rarity in the field of the immigration history... His book is an excellent example of how it is possible to succeed in this not easy intent.

Journal of Social History - Elisabetta Vezzosi

Baily makes a convincing argument for multinational comparisons.

--Michael La Sorte "Journal of American Ethnic History"

Immigrants in the Lands of Promise is exceptional in various regards. The book is written in a clear, economical style. Statistics and narrative are combined in a balanced, articulated, and useful manner... Baily's stubborn loyalty to quantititative methods produces important insights into issues that needed to be addressed and quantified.

--Ricardo D. Salvatore, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella "Latin American Research Review"

Many speak of the virtue of comparative history, but few are brave enough to undertake the challenge. Samuel Baily accepted the challenge and has made an important contribution to this emerging genre... This volume should stimulate lively discussions among students of migration, urban studies, and comparative history.

--Rudolph J. Vecoli, University of Minnesota--Twin Cities "The Journal of American History"

The author examines the way in which groups of immigrants coming from various parts of Italy adapted to the realities of their new situation... Baily's approach... makes his work a rarity in the field of the immigration history... His book is an excellent example of how it is possible to succeed in this not easy intent.

--Elisabetta Vezzosi, University of Trieste "Journal of Social History"

From the Publisher

Many speak of the virtue of comparative history, but few are brave enough to undertake the challenge. Samuel Baily accepted the challenge and has made an important contribution to this emerging genre... This volume should stimulate lively discussions among students of migration, urban studies, and comparative history.

The Journal of American History - Rudolph J. Vecoli

Baily makes a convincing argument for multinational comparisons.

Journal of American Ethnic History - Michael La Sorte