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 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. ( )