Description
Between 1846 and 1940, more than 50 million Europeans moved to the Americas, irrevocably changing both their new lands and the ones they left behind. Their immigration fostered an idea of the "land of the free" and yet more than a third returned home again. In a ground-breaking study, Tara Zahra explores the deeper story of this movement of people.
As villages emptied, some blamed traffickers in human labour. Others saw opportunity: to seed colonies like the Polish community in Argentina or to reshape their populations by encouraging the emigration of minorities. These precedents would shape the Holocaust, the closing of the Iron Curtain and tragedies of ethnic cleansing while also forming notions of social solidarity, human rights and freedom.
About the Author
Tara Zahra is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a professor of history at the University of Chicago. Recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Reviews
"... vivid and meticulously researched work... The Great Departure offers a deep, multifaceted understanding of mass migration." -- Times Higher Education
"... timely, myth-busting chronicle..." -- Nature
"... a perceptive history of migration and Eastern Europe..." -- The Economist
Book Information
ISBN 9780393078015
Author Tara Zahra
Format Hardback
Page Count 400
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 757g
Dimensions(mm) 244mm * 168mm * 33mm
