author
Henry Pratt Fairchild
1880–1956
A longtime New York University sociologist, he wrote widely on immigration, race, nationality, and population issues at a time when those debates were especially heated. His books reflect both the breadth of his interests and the controversies surrounding some of the ideas he supported.
1 Audiobook
Immigration : A world movement and its American significance
by Henry Pratt Fairchild
About the author
Born in Dundee, Illinois, in 1880, Henry Pratt Fairchild studied at Doane College and later earned a Ph.D. from Yale. He went on to build a long academic career in sociology, including years at New York University, where he became a professor and department chair.
Fairchild wrote on immigration, race relations, nationality, and family and population questions. He was also active in major public debates of his era, and his work shows how closely early twentieth-century sociology could overlap with social policy and reform movements.
He remains a notable figure in the history of American sociology partly because of that influence and partly because some of the causes he was involved with, including the American Eugenics Society, are now viewed very critically. He died in 1956.