Providing an interdisciplinary and global perspective on immigration to the United States, this collection of essays brings together the work of leading scholars in the field--including the work of such distinguished historians, sociologists, and political scientists as Charles Tilly, Philip Curtin, Kirby Miller, Sucheng Chan, Alejandro Portes, Lawrence Fuchs, and Aristide Zolberg--and represents an important step forward in the development of immigration studies. The book helps redirect thinking on the subject by giving a summary of the current state of immigration studies and a coherent new perspective that emphasizes the international dimensions of the immigrant experience from the time of the slave trade to present-day movements of Asian and Latin American peoples. Immigration Reconsidered challenges ethnocentric American or European perspectives on immigration, disputes the classical assimilation model of a linear progression of immigrant cultures toward a dominant American
national character, questions human capital theory as an explanation of ethnic group achievement, reveals conflicting ethnic and racial attitudes toward immigration restriction, and examines the revival of interest in oral history, immigrant autobiographies, and other subjective documents. Offering a new approach to immigration studies for the 1990s, Immigration Reconsidered is important reading for anyone who wants to know how the America came to be as it is today.
Industry Reviews
"The papers are carefully chosen, of high individual quality, and integrated more than most collections of essays by scholars' responses to each other and the editor's analytical overview....This book is valuable becase it seeks to avoid an ethnocentric or parochial perspective and to place American Immigration in a wider context."--Explorations in Sights and Sounds
"The interdisciplinary nature of this work is wonderful. Chapter notes are valuable aids for both teacher and student."--S. Carol Berg, College of St. Benedict
"Well selected papers on a much-ignored issue. Brings light to the minds of students and teachers."--Xiaoxin Wu, University of San Francisco
"Eleven essays by leading historians and social scientists of immigration that present new research in this area....Especially useful for scholars of American history since they provide a broader context in which to teach about the American imimigration experience."--Teaching History
"An excellent anthology--the best I know of in bringing together some very insightful and important articles."--Scott Sernau, Indiana University, South Bend
"Very useful in understanding and teaching American immigration history."--Haiming Liu, University of California, Irvine
"Challenges current assumptions about the immigration experience. The work provides a breadth of fresh air in ethnic history."--Gregory R. Campbell, University of Montana
"The first major synthesis of recent historical and sociological trends in the study of American immigration....A new paradigm for scholars interested in immigration and ethnicity, one that moves well beyond the simplistic dichotomies of much previous work."--Robert S. Lambert, Journal of American History
"The title of this book provides only hints of the richness that lies within...[T]he analytical and innovative contributions of distinguished and authoritative scholars, the skillful blending of disciplines, and the clear articulations and extensions of structural approaches to the study of international migration and migrants....This collection has reaffirmed the importance of the past while advancing our approaches to the study of
immigration."--Contemporary Sociology
"A series of first-rate articles which approach the matter of immigration from a number of perspectives, all of which are nicely integrated. These essays reflect the most up-to-date scholarship in the field, and provide a global dimension to a topic which traditionally was considered somewhat in a vacuum. All in all, this book should find wide use and application."--Gerald Michael Schnabel, Bemidji State University
"A thought-provoking treatment of the subject that continuously challenges conventional wisdom."--Raju Varghese, University of Maryland
"A very useful text for courses on U.S. immigration, especially because it places migration patterns in a global context."--Janet A. Nolan, Loyola University of Chicago
"Offers insight into some of the amazingly rich and diverse approaches to the study of migration history that will set the agenda for research to be done in the 1990s."--Lloyd Graybar, Eastern Kentucky University
"An excellent overview of patterns and trends of migration through history."--Carolyn W. Arnold, University of Massachusetts, Boston
"Excellent reference. I requested that our library order this book."--Harriet Romo, Southwest Texas State University
"Important reading for students of immigration."--History
"Insightful in its approach to focusing on the experiences encountered by various immigrant groups. This book is a must for those who want a better understanding of immigration, ethnicity, intergroup interaction, and its impact on American culture."--Ann Whitaker, Northeastern Illinois University
