| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.1

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 168 words from this article are provided below; about 362 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Colliers across the Sea: A Comparative Study of Class Formation in Scotland and the American Midwest, 1830–1924. By John H. M. Laslett. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000. xvi, 314 pp. Cloth, $49.95, ISBN 0-252-02511-3. Paper, $18.95, ISBN 0-252-06827-0.)

In this painstaking if repetitious study of Scottish coal miners in Lanarkshire compared with the experiences of mid-nineteenth-century Scottish immigrants in northern Illinois mines, John H. M. Laslett firmly rejects American exceptionalism and argues that class formation in the workplace and community in Scotland and in the American Midwest were essentially similar "in most respects." He strongly advocates the method of comparative labor history, but his search for the reasonably comparable case severely narrows choices, raising questions about this approach's utility. The number of Scottish coal miners in northern Illinois towns near Chicago always remained a tiny minority within and sometimes lost among a mix of "British" immigrants. Furthermore, the immigration of British coal miners to America virtually ceased by the late nineteenth century. . . .

There are about 362 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.