Oscar Handlin (1915–2011)

This is one of those books I picked up in a library sale for twenty-five cents or something like that. Not sure what called me to pull it off the shelf where it stood with others in the Library of American Biography series. Oscar Handlin is generally remembered as an historian of ethnic, immigrant, and urban American; Lillian Handlin is best known for her series on liberty in America. A biography of Abraham Lincoln seems out of place on their C.V.s Written in 1980 it is somewhat dated. This show more book was not intended to be a scholarly contribution, but as an introductory synthetic work that tied together existing historiography for students and the layperson. They emphasized religion and Lincoln's evolving concepts of necessity and a divine being. They depict Lincoln as human being who struggled making decisions, and who often delayed or prevaricated when he saw no clear answer, policy, or solution. While this book has some merits, there has been some interesting Lincoln scholarship in the almost forty years since it was published. show less

Between the years 1790 and 1880, Boston had transformed itself from a small town with a population consisting primarily of traders to a bustling city rich in industrialization yet lacking in favorable living conditions for the immigrated poor. Although reluctant at first, the influx of immigration forced the city of Boston to establish a greater tolerance for foreign ethnicities. During this time, there came the need for “sectional distribution” of the classes with the wealthier show more residents residing in the suburbs and the less economically fortunate concentrated around the area of Fort Hill. Boston’s Immigrants explores the “economic, physical and intellectual adjustments” of Irish immigrants who arrived in Boston in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Oscar Handlin traces the development of Irish immigration from their arrival in America through the development of group consciousness and finally to their acceptance into Boston society.

Handlin excels in his attempt to recreate the social history of Irish immigrants in Boston. Through his in-depth research of newspapers, public documents and personal accounts, Handlin is able to describe a society of immigrants discriminated against for their religion, ethnicity and social status. By comparing the immigration experiences of other ethnic groups in Boston as well as identifying the hardships and conflicts that the Irish faced upon their arrival, the reader gains insight into the process of acculturation. Although studies have been published in the past that examine the history of the Irish in Boston (Story of the Irish in Boston Cullen, 1890) as well as the process of populating the city (Ethnic Factors in the Population of Boston Bushee, 1903), it is Oscar Handlin’s study that is all encompassing. Including elements of social, religious, economic and political history, Boston’s Immigrants is the quintessential study of Irish Immigration in Boston between 1790 and 1880. show less

1102 The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migration that Made the American People, by Oscar Handlin (read 17 Jan 1971) (Pulitzer History prize in 1952) I was moved by portions of this book but disappointed by the format. No footnotes, it tries to generalize the story of the immigrant. I kept thinking of my immigrant grandparents and so often what was said as a generalization was not applicable. But the insight into the tremendous emotional trauma involved in leaving the Old Country and show more taking up life here I found impelling. But so often the immigrant is pictured as defeated, overwhelmed, etc. My paternal grandfather certainly does not fit that picture. This book was far too short in documentation and specifics. show less

3615. Al Smith and His America, by Oscar Handlin (read 11 Aug 2002) This is not a full-fledged bio, but only 192 pages without a footnote. It relies some on his daughter's book, which I read on 9 Aug 2002, but Handlin deprecates Smith's course after 1932, which is an attitude I think right. Not a bad book, but pretty familiar since I had just read his daughter's book, and on Feb 2, 2002 read Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith, by Robert A. Slayton, which is an able and show more modern biography. show less