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.