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The People of Hamilton, Canada West: Family and Class in a Mid-Nineteenth-Century City. By Michael B. Katz. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1976. Pp. xiii + 381. $17.50

This book belongs to the genre of historical community studies that in the past decade has embraced Boston, Omaha, Philadelphia, and many other nineteenth-century cities. These studies attempt to treat the full range of the urban population — the bottom as well as top of the social structure. All share an interest in sociology and social theory, and all use quantitative methods. Because of the large number of community studies that have preceded Michael Katz' and the general familiarity of his methods and purposes, one opens this book fearing more of the same and little of interest to any but the most dedicated specialist. Many of Katz' general themes and conclusions are indeed familiar. There is enough variation, generalization, and genuine scholarship here, however, to sustain and reward all but the most impatient reader. Katz focuses on the themes of transience and inequality — the familiar workhorses of community study scholarship — but he elaborates and expands understanding of these facets of urban life, especially in discussing the apparent paradox of rapid spatial movement of a transient population in or through a rigid social structure. His analysis of inequality and social mobility is thorough and straightforward. It is based on the traditional sources (census records, assessment roles, and city directories) but includes all individuals listed rather than samples and pays particular attention to problems of historical linkage. The chief weakness of Katz' book is the limited period covered, generally 1851 to 1861. Most community studies encompass at least three decades, and some venture over broader periods. Because he concentrates on only a single decade, Katz is limited in his ability to show change within Hamilton. This shortcoming is especially significant in that he proposes to deal with "the effects of the transformation usually called industrialization" (7), a worthwhile goal seriously compromised by study of a single decade. It is important to note, however, that this is the first book to come from the Canadian Social History Project, a large-scale, scholarly endeavor focusing on Hamilton, Ontario. The book, Katz cautions, does not represent full utilization of the data that have been gathered nor is it a final report on the project's work. Although The People of Hamilton deals with only a decade, the scope is less restricted in other ways than many earlier community studies. Katz makes frequent and sustained efforts to compare Hamilton to other cities in the United States and in Europe, finding broad similarities and some significant though not fully understood variations, such as the differences between Hamilton and most United States cities in upward and downward mobility rates. His command of the secondary literature and his ability to compare and contrast the themes of his work with those of other scholars