John Dos Passos' Manhattan Transfer HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: This book began in the 1890's. Benjamin Harrison of the Republicans was in power. The novel began by showing the problems of immigration both from the view point of the immigrant and of the already settled American. We are aware right from the first page that the life of an immigrant was extremely difficult. Jobs were extremely scarce and even when they were available the pay was low. However the immigrants had to worry about more than just jobs; they had to worry about the safely of the lives of their families. Because there was a huge nu