Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan Letters and Memoirs from Colonial and Revolutionary America, 1675-1815

The histories of the United States and of Ireland are inextricably intertwined. Just as the Great Migration had a formative influence on the young American republic, so too have the experiences of the Irish in America resonated back across the Atlantic, profoundly affecting ethnic and political identities in Ireland and Britain. Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan re-creates, in their own words, the experiences of scores of the first Irish-Americans, revealing why immigrants left Ireland, how they adapted to their new homeland, what challenges they faced, and how they ultimately persevered in a difficult, often hostile environment. From hard-bitten frontier women to homesick merchant's wives, revolutionary soldiers to radical idealists, statesmen and politicians, loyalists and conservatives, the upwardly mobile and the spectacularly wealthy, criminals, indentured servants, debtors, farmers -- the volume distills a vast trove of letters, diaries, and memoirs, offering up a definitive first-hand portrait of the Irish diaspora. A truly monumental work, compiled and edited by four of the world's foremost experts on Irish immigration to America, Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan draws on a collective century of research and experience to provide an unprecedented historical panorama of early American history. Book jacket.

Kerby A. Miller is Middlebush Professor of History at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Arnold Schrier is the Walter C. Langsam Professor Emeritus of History, University of Cincinnati. Bruce D. Boling is Senior Cataloger, University of New Mexico General Library. David Noel Doyle is Statutory Lecturer in History, University College-Dublin.