Between 1845 and 1855, 2 million Irish men and women fled their
famine-ravaged homeland, many to settle in large British and
American cities that were already wrestling with a complex array of
urban problems. In this innovative work of comparative urban
history, Matthew Gallman looks at how two cities, Philadelphia and
Liverpool, met the challenges raised by the influx of
immigrants.
Gallman examines how citizens and policymakers in Philadelphia and
Liverpool dealt with such issues as poverty, disease, poor
sanitation, crime, sectarian conflict, and juvenile delinquency. By
considering how two cities of comparable population and dimensions
responded to similar challenges, he sheds new light on familiar
questions about distinctive national characteristics--without
resorting to claims of "American exceptionalism." In this critical
era of urban development, English and American cities often evolved
in analogous ways, Gallman notes. But certain crucial
differences--in location, material conditions, governmental
structures, and voluntaristic traditions, for example--inspired
varying approaches to urban problem solving on either side of the
Atlantic.