In the following essay, Guillaume discusses Henry Mayhew's observations about Jewish immigrants living in London, focusing on issues of labor and trade. Guillaume notes that Mayhew expressed sympathy for the poor “street Jews” in the lower classes and contempt for wealthy Jews whom he considered greedy and selfish.

In the following excerpt, Takaki discusses the manner in which literature depicting stereotypical Chinese laborers influenced American attitudes towards them.

In the following essay, Slatter describes the various roles played by Russian immigrant characters in English fiction, including the oppressed victim, the ideologue, and the heroic adventurer.

In the following essay, Gleason examines the influence of the influx of Irish immigrants on Thoreau's writing. Gleason finds that Thoreau's anxiety about immigrants and how they might change the character of the nation is reflected in his varied, sometimes contradictory treatment of Irish characters in Walden.

In the following essay, Doriani argues that Davis's story of the immigrant poor took its readers beyond the widespread opinion that the poor were responsible for their own poverty to what Davis considered a more Christian worldview.

In the following essay, Wittke classifies the representation of immigrants in American theatre in the last half of the nineteenth century, including Irish, German, Italian, and Jewish Americans.

In the following essay, Fine analyzes the writings of those who sought to assimilate rather than exclude American immigrants. Focusing on “tenement tales” of the late nineteenth century, Fine explores the development of the “melting pot” ideal in which some immigrants would be indoctrinated into American values.

In the following essay, Curtis discusses the role of physiognomy in shaping cultural beliefs about the Irish in Victorian England. Physiognomy was applied in nineteenth-century novels and graphic satire, and its semi-scientific nature appeared to lend credibility to English beliefs about the mental and moral inferiority of the Irish.

In the following essay, Harap traces the origins of the concept of the “wandering Jew” from Biblical interpretations to the mid-century novel by Eugène Sue, Wandering Jew, and American versions of the legend.

In the following essay, Kersten details the use of the German immigrant character in nineteenth-century humor and proposes that the humorous immigrant provided a safe medium for satiric observations on American culture.