Allison Games And Migration

In Allison Games’, Migration and the Origins of the English Atlantic World, Games creates a new understanding of the Atlantic world that shows how the impermanent migration of the English people ultimately formulated what the Atlantic world was known to be. Unlike other historians, Games creatively gathered together her book through an extensive study of the 1635 London Port register list along with other primary sources such as wills, personal letters, and business contracts from personnels on the list to add a humanistic touch in presenting the Atlantic migration history. However the selection of these sources did not come without a heavy cost. The use of these informative, yet limited, documents resulted in misleading statistics, constant

Throughout her book, Games was very eager in presenting the various pull facts that attracted the English in wanting to come to the new world. Whether it was for personal gains, religious freedom, or social mobility, she was thorough in all aspects; yet, Games did not fully elaborate on the push factors back in London, that undeniably played just as significant of a role in promoting migration. Indeed, Games briefly identified that an uncontrollable growth in English population, along with food shortages and the, “collapse of England textile industry” (16), promoted migration , but this explanation is not sufficient to answer why around tens of thousands of English people, each year, are willing to face a sixty percent mortality rate (190) in going to the new world to seek opportunities; it simply does not provide the whole picture. Literatures that clearly record the economic limitations of England, social structure, religious freedom, or even the daily life of the common English man could have allowed the audience to more closely apprehend why some of the English were willing to risk their lives for a chance in having a better future. Yet, Games forfeited her chance to use these promising sources and reserved herself to words such as crowded and unemployed (23) to briefly present the unfavorable situations back in