A Population History of the United States

The first full scale survey of the demographic history of America in one volume.

Herbert S. Klein (Author)

9780521788106, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 22 March 2004

316 pages, 87 b/w illus. 13 maps 5 tables
22.8 x 15.1 x 2 cm, 0.431 kg

'The strengths of A Population History of the United States reside in its achievements as a work of synthesis, its quite extensive coverage of fertility and mortality trends, and its clear account of forces influencing migration and population redistribution. It provides a concise yet informative overview of a complex history.' Population Studies

This is the first full-scale one-volume survey of the demographic history of the United States. From the arrival of humans in the Western Hemisphere to the current century, Klein analyzes the basic demographic trends in the growth of the pre-conquest, colonial and national populations. He surveys the origin and distribution of the Native Americans, the post-conquest free and servile European and African colonial populations and the variation in regional patterns of fertility and mortality to 1800. He then explores trends in births, deaths, international and internal migrations in the nineteenth century and compares them with contemporary European developments. The profound impact of historic declines in disease and mortality on the structure of the late twentieth century population is explained. Finally the late twentieth century changes in family structure, fertility and mortality are evaluated for their influence on the evolution of the national population for the 21st century.

1. Paleo Indians, Europeans and the settlement of America
2. Colonization and settlement of North America
3. The Early Republic to 1860
4. The creation of an industrial and urban society, 1860–1914
5. The evolution of a modern population, 1914–1945
6. The baby boom and changing family values, 1945–1980
7. A modern industrial society, 1980–2003.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], Population & demography [JHBD], Social & cultural history [HBTB], History of the Americas [HBJK]