Pulitzer Prize History Winner
The Uprooted
by Oscar Handlin
Summary
Handlin tells the immigrant experience as a story of wrenching displacement, following people torn from European villages into the strange, isolating world of American cities. He writes in an emotional, almost literary key, emphasizing loneliness, loss, and the struggle to rebuild identity in a new land. The influential book argued that immigration was the central drama of American history rather than one theme among many.
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Historical Context & Significance
Handlin opened the book by writing that he once set out to write a history of immigrants in America, then realized the immigrants were American history.