The History Department is delighted to announce the publication of The Hobo: A History of America’s First Climate Migrants by our colleague and Lecturer in Environmental History, Dr Robert Suits.
Published by Princeton University Press, the book offers a major new history of the migrant workers who travelled across North America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Bringing together labour, environmental, and social history, it explores how environmental pressures, economic change, and mobility shaped the lives of those who rode the rails in search of work and opportunity. In doing so, it sheds new light on the relationship between climate, migration, and the making of modern America.
The book is now available in the United States and will be released in the United Kingdom in the coming months.
Congratulations to Robert on this important and timely contribution to American environmental and labour history!
View the full list of our Publications and Achievements in the UCL History department.
UCL Laws ranked 3rd in the UK in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026
UCL Faculty of Laws has been ranked one of the UK’s top universities for studying law.
06 Oct 2025
Hannah Smyth elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
Hannah Smyth, Lecturer in Archives and Records Management has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
09 Jul 2026
Reflections from the Making Things Human Workshop
In this article, UCL Geography PhD student Eleanor Luxton shares highlights from a two-day workshop that encouraged early career researchers to explore creative, collaborative research methods.
09 Jul 2026