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Title details for One Quarter of the Nation by Nancy Foner - Available

One Quarter of the Nation

Immigration and the Transformation of America

by Nancy Foner
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An in-depth look at the many ways immigration has redefined modern America
The impact of immigrants over the past half century has become so much a part of everyday life in the United States that we sometimes fail to see it. This deeply researched book by one of America's leading immigration scholars tells the story of how immigrants are fundamentally changing this country.
An astonishing number of immigrants and their children—nearly eighty-six million people—now live in the United States. Together, they have transformed the American experience in profound and far-reaching ways that go to the heart of the country's identity and institutions.
Unprecedented in scope, One Quarter of the Nation traces how immigration has reconfigured America's racial order—and, importantly, how Americans perceive race—and played a pivotal role in reshaping electoral politics and party alignments. It discusses how immigrants have rejuvenated our urban centers as well as some far-flung rural communities, and examines how they have strengthened the economy, fueling the growth of old industries and spurring the formation of new ones. This wide-ranging book demonstrates how immigration has touched virtually every facet of American culture, from the music we dance to and the food we eat to the films we watch and books we read.
One Quarter of the Nation opens a new chapter in our understanding of immigration. While many books look at how America changed immigrants, this one examines how they changed America. It reminds us that immigration has long been a part of American society, and shows how immigrants and their families continue to redefine who we are as a nation.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 8, 2022

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780691206554

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780691206554
      • File size: 4791 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      December 1, 2021
      An account of how the 1965 Hart-Celler Act, in broadening immigration beyond European quotas, transformed the racial makeup, economy, and politics of the U.S. The elimination of origin quotas put in place since the 1920s, which had favored European immigrants, paved the way for a great surge of new immigration from Asia, Latin America, and, to a lesser extent, Africa and the Middle East. The change in numbers, as Foner clearly explains, was enormous. In 1960, for example, 75% of foreign-born residents came from Europe; by 2018, those born in Latin America and the Caribbean went from 9% to 50%, Asians from 4% to 28%, and sub-Saharan Africans from 1% to 5%. The astonishing racial shift has affected all aspects of American life (Whites comprised only 60% of the population by 2018). Foner--a professor of sociology and author of One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the Twenty-First Century, among other books--makes a convincing argument, as other scholars have in recent years, that these changes have been positive and significant for the U.S. as a nation, countering uglier, speculative narratives about the detriments of immigration. Neighborhoods across America have shifted hugely, from all-Black (Caribbean and African) sections of Brooklyn to all-Asian sections of Los Angeles and other cities in California and elsewhere. The author closely examines the economic benefits in immigrant work, filling both the top and bottom of the occupational ladder, from innovative new companies to the caretakers and farm workers, all necessary for the functioning of the American economy. In scholarly but accessible prose, Foner also explores this huge cultural shift in terms of TV, movies, literature, and other elements of arts and culture. This book will be a good fit for libraries and school collections in order to refute erroneous and racist arguments regarding immigration. A succinct, positive look at the great benefits, both historically and currently, of embracing immigration.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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