Huddle Fever: Living in the Immigrant City

By Jeanne Schinto

Book Overview

A granddaughter of immigrants takes a penetrating look at Lawrence, Massachusetts, an industrial city that epitomizes America's past--and maybe its future. Schinto makes vivid Lawrence's history--the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679421211
• ISBN13: 9780679421214
• Release Date: September 1995
• Publisher: Knopf
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant Account of The Immigrant City

I always wondered why Lawrence seemed to have such bad karma. Now I know. A beautifully-written historical account of a fascinating mill town in Northern Massachusetts. Mandatory reading for anyone interested in urban studies, and for all public officials in Massachuetts who have any sincere interest in understanding the plights and challanges of Lawrence, Lowell, Fall River, and New Bedford.

Good social history, but too apologetic

Lawrence, Mass. is a city in meltdown. It has 70,000 people, mostly poor, jammed into 6 square miles; a crime rate that places the city in a league with urban centers far bigger and the genteel habit of its residents of torching cars for the insurance money. Yet few would learn some of the stickier issues of life in Lawrence from Schinto's view. She lived in the city for 10 years, but dwells on the city's past glories at great length rather than taking a fearless, in-depth look at the present deep-seated difficulties of a city with pressing social, political and economic ills. By ducking the tough issues, Ms. Schinto really dodged the opportunity to ask the critical questions facing ALL of urban America today, of which Lawrence is but a small part: What went wrong in our cities? And what can possibly make it right again? Good for any who treasure the history of the mill workers in New England and the textile glory days, but Schinto's apologist approach disappoints. Perhaps it shouldn't; she does, after all, have to live in the affluent suburb of Andover just next door to hardscrabble Lawrence and may not wish to offend her former neighbors. Book could also use a map; even for this book reviewer, who lived in the city for two years, references to city neighborhoods got confusing