American Immigration and Ethnicity: A Reader - Hardcover

"David Gerber and Alan Kraut have produced a very useful and informative study using primary and secondary sources that draws numerous connections between contemporary immigration and that of the last two centuries. It is unique in presenting the 'then and now' of American immigration and ethnicity through selected readings of European voices from the past and Asian American, Hispanic, and Caribbean voices from the present in addition to previous and current analyses of these migrating groups. Readers are encouraged to think about the similarities and differences between immigrants who became Americans in the mid 19th to mid 20th centuries and those becoming Americans today." - Ronald H. Bayor, Founding Editor, Journal of American Ethnic History

"David Gerber and Alan Kraut have performed a great service. American Imimgration and Ethnicity is a terrific survey of the state of the art in immigration studies, but more than this, it promises to inject healthy doses of historical sensitivity and realism into today's immigration debates. From a civic standpoint, one can only hope that it finds the wide audience it deserves." - Matthew Frye Jacobson, author of Roots Too: White Ethnic Revival in Post-Civil Rights America

"As Americans we desperately need to know more about our own migration stories and the historical and policy contexts that framed them. Now brought together in one volume, we've got a great place to begin. An excellent collection!" - John Kuo Wei Tchen, co-founder of the Museum of Chinese in the Americas

"American Immigration and Ethnicity is a welcome resource for the study of immigration and ethnic history. Gerber and Kraut identify a range of significant issues in immigration and ethnic history and skillfully juxtapose an array of materials that invite students to compare past and modern-day immigrations. By adopting a thematic instead of a chronological approach, these two accomplished historians encourage students to explore history in ways that will advance an understanding of contemporary immigration. Gerber and Kraut have done a superb job of selecting materials and arranging them in a format bound to challenge students to think critically and comparatively about American immigration history." - June Granatir Alexander, University of Cincinnati, author of Ethnic Pride, American Patriotism: Slovaks and Other New Immigrants in the Interwar Era

"This is the best immigration anthology on the market, my number one choice. The editors' selections are essential reading for history and social science courses. The most impressive aspect of this collection is that it provides an interdisciplinary approach without sacrificing depth or historical perspective" - Virginia Yans, Rutgers University

This innovative reader is the first in American immigration history to combine and compare the experiences of European immigrants in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and those of Asian, Hispanic, Caribbean, and African immigrants in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through its carefully selected readings from scholarly essays and primary source documents, this collection creates a framework for instructors to engage in comparative analysis of immigration waves across time. The editors have chosen readings with accessibilty for the undergraduate student in mind, and also provide substantial introductory material to better contextualize the selections. An invaluable tool for teaching immigration history, the volume also can be used in courses in sociology, ethnic studies, and American pluralism.