Maillol And America

Author : Alejandro Portes
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 9780520207653
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (76 download)

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Download or read book Immigrant America written by Alejandro Portes and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A portrayal of immigration and immigrant lives in the United States, this work, first published in 1990, is now published in a second edition which has been thoroughly expanded and updated to reflect current demographic, economic, and political realities, and the vertiginous pace of historical change in the post-Cold-War era. The authors have written two new chapters, infused the entire text with new data, and added a vivid array of new illustrations. The United States of the late twentieth century is a new nation of immigrants. Not since the peak years of immigration before World War I have so many newcomers made their way to America. During the 1980s about six million immigrants and refugees were legally admitted, and a sizable but uncertain number of others entered without legal status. This book offers a broad portrait of the multicultural people who comprise the latest wave of immigrants to the United States. Overwhelmingly Asian and Latin American yet defying widespread stereotypes of immigrants, they come in luxurious jetliners and the trunks of cars, by boat and on foot. Manual laborers and polished professionals, entrepreneurs and exiles, these immigrants reflect in their motives and origins the forces that have reshaped American society in the second half of the century. Drawing on recent census data and other primary sources, the authors revise our understanding of immigrant America in a sweeping and multifaceted analysis. They probe the dynamics of immigrant politics, examining questions of identity and loyalty among newcomers who are "in a society but not of it," and explore the psychological consequences of varying modes of migration and acculturation. They look at patterns of settlement in urban America, discuss the problems of English-language acquisition and bilingual education, and explain how immigrants incorporate themselves into the American economy. They also dispel myths about that most oppressed and controversial immigrant group, the undocumented. Though much maligned in the popular imagination, these immigrants--often positively selected men and women seeking opportunities for advancement--contribute importantly to many sectors of the American economy. This new study provides a fascinating and complex portrait of America circa 1990.