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kjcharles's review
A pretty interesting read going through the history of the British census and what it tells us about population trends and work. Very interesting on rural depopulation and with plenty of nice nuggets--stories of real people used to illustrate points, a fun section on names dying out.
It's hard to know what's missing bc the data isn't there and what's authorial choice but I found the treatment of immigrants rather thin and oddly focused. There's a big chapter on Jewish immigration and how antisemitic language of "we're being invaded" wasn't even dented by the actual facts as revealed in the census, because different times same shit. Virtually nothing on Asian immigration, though, despite a lot on Empire and emigration.
Overall quite interesting but my copy isn't as dog eared to mark the good bits as I might have hoped.
It's hard to know what's missing bc the data isn't there and what's authorial choice but I found the treatment of immigrants rather thin and oddly focused. There's a big chapter on Jewish immigration and how antisemitic language of "we're being invaded" wasn't even dented by the actual facts as revealed in the census, because different times same shit. Virtually nothing on Asian immigration, though, despite a lot on Empire and emigration.
Overall quite interesting but my copy isn't as dog eared to mark the good bits as I might have hoped.
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