Oscar Handlin's The Uprooted: The Epic Story Of The Great Migration

Since the 1800s, America’s foreign policies have significantly influenced international migration patterns. The impact of the United States global relations at home and abroad has continued to be reevaluated by various historians. Twentieth-century literature analyzed immigration as a domestic matter, and neglected to consider that immigrants are moving parts and their countries of origins are key components to their stories. Issued in 1973, Oscar Handlin’s The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations that Made the American People is one of the first literatures that analyze immigration patterns in relation to nation building in the United States. Roger Daniels provides readers with a deeper examination of immigration and its impact

He does not merely analyze the facts of immigration history in America, but instead looks at the effect that the migrations had on millions of individuals that were uprooted from their homes and displaced into the foreign land of the United States. The book suggests that the US policies seemed enticing at first, which is what motivated many people to leave their homes and search for new opportunities in America. However, once immigrants reached America, they felt alienated and were often separated from their family and friends. The Uprooted reads like a narrative, which is helpful for readers to follow the story, but his claims are not supported by ample evidence or statistics. His thesis claims that people become alienated with their past and their present after emigrating from native lands to America. After being forced to cut ties from the culture they left, the immigrants found they could not physically fit in with the unique culture of America. His writing allows readers to empathize with the people leaving their homes to come to America, but he does not provide contrasting arguments, discuss the positives of migrating, or mention the legislation that involved American