Ethnic Americans: A History of Immigration

By Leonard Dinnerstein and David M. Reimers

Book Overview

For more than three decades, Ethnic Americans has been hailed as a classic history of immigration to America. Leonard Dinnerstein and David M. Reimers begin with a brief overview of immigration during the colonial and early national eras (1492 to the 1820s), focusing primarily on the arrival of English Protestants, while at the same time stressing the diversity brought by Dutch, French, Spanish, and other small groups, including "free people of color" from the Caribbean. Next they follow large-scale European immigration from 1830 to the 1880s. Catholicism became a major force in America during this period, with immigrants--five million in the 1880s alone--creating a new mosaic in every state of the Union. This section also touches on the arrival, beginning in 1848, of Chinese immigrants and other groups who hoped to find gold and get rich. Subsequent chapters address eastern and southern European immigration from 1890 to 1940; newcomers from the Western Hemisphere and Asia who arrived from 1840 to 1940; immigration restriction from 1875 to World War II; and the postwar arrival and experiences of Asian, Mexican, Hungarian, and Cuban refugees.

Taking the past fifteen years into account, the fifth edition of Ethnic Americans considers recent influxes of Asians and Hispanics, especially the surge in the Mexican population, and includes expanded coverage of nativist sentiment in American politics and thought.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231143370
• ISBN13: 9780231143370
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 8.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Really good concise history of immigration

Dinnerstein and Reimers provide an easy to read summyar of American immigration from the conolain immigration to the present. It covers important immigration from Europe, Asia and Mexico such as public reaction, adjusment problems and immigration laws. It provides a great deal information about collective ethnic groups and their positions on domestic and international issues.

Concise and Comprehensive

Dinnerstein and Reimers presents a comprehensive overview of immigrants in the United States from 1607 until the present. Ethnic Americans covers the triumph and struggle of European, Latin America, Asian immigrants as they seek social, economic and political freedom in the United States. Examines the assimilation of immigrants despite facing racism and prejudice in the new world. This book is truly a historical, scholarly work but a readable book for everyone interested in the history of immigrants in the United States.