In search of a common ground

the long version

Over the years, millions of people from around the world left their homes in search of a better life in the United States of America. Most studies of this life-altering experience have focused on its meaning and effects for men. Walking Common Ground reveals the surprising contrasts which show up in this story when the focus shifts to women. Comparing women's accounts of nineteenth century immigration taken from letters, diaries and autobiographies with extensive in-depths interviews of twentieth century women from every corner of the globe, Kristine Leach uncovers an unexpected commonality of experience for immigrant women, in spite of enormous differences in time, place and circumstance. Going beyond the recitation of immigration statistics, Leach explores the problems of child rearing in a culture with different standards of behavior, the adjustments to new freedoms and responsibilities and the orientation to new types of housing, food, customs and morals. She develops her account through the words and life of the women under study, placing her theoretical account in its concrete reality.