Immigrant America: A Portrait

by Alejandro Portes, Rubén G. Rumbaut, Prof. Rubén G. Rumbaut

Book Overview

This revised and updated fifth edition of Immigrant America: A Portrait provides a comprehensive and current overview of immigration to the United States, including its history, the principal theories... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520250419
• ISBN13: 9780520250413
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Perseus - Ucal Pod
• Length: 500 Pages
• Weight: 1.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Must-Read for all Americans...

for, as a quote attributed to Oscar Handlin in the book goes, 'to write the history of immigrants in America is to write American history'! This book can be read in two ways: the first, fast and superficially, by keeping note of all the section headings and skimming the text, and the second, slowly and pain-stakingly. Most people would just want to do it the first way, which is more than enough to get the general, overall synthesis presented in the book, and also to get an idea of how the media stereotypes and distortions, and public perception of this field, are false, and falsified. The second way is more appropriate for somebody really interested in the field for whatever reason. To read it this way and in detail required a personal intimacy with the subject, otherwise the text is just words without any emotion, and hence meaningless and irrelevant. It helps to have lived around the United States, and especially in one of the places with a high immigrant concentration like LA or NYC. Of course, it helps to be an immigrant yourself. The book is very complex, because the subject is very, very complex, even as the authors have, to quote Einstein, 'made it as simple as possible, but no simpler'. No reader's personal experience can equate the depth of the field, so empathy is a key ingredient in getting through this book. Being a very volatile topic, the authors have taken the effort to back their statements up. That means that there are plenty of facts, and tables, graphs and figures based on those facts, and therefore the book is not an easy read. One has to stop and consider the charts and figures before continuing to proceed. The text seems simple, but like any sociological study, it is based on real people, and hence each sentence could be a synopsis of a whole experience or worldly observation. Overall, completing the book is a labor of love, or persistence or tenacity! That explains why there are only two reviewers of this book, even though it is apparently assigned in classes, and is considered a classic in the field. I can imagine professors assigning this book with sadistic relish. Not a synopsis which other reviewers have provided, but here are some interesting nuggets from the book: 1. It is known the social class explains many social observations, but to explain the situation of immigrants, add the way they are received at the destination. 2. The five most concentrated ethnic groups are Mexicans, Portuguese, Japanese, Filipinos and Norwegians. 3. German-Americans were the only ethnic group that had to choose between America and their country of origin in a war (which explains the high concentration of German-Americans in the military.) 4. Ever heard of the 'Epidemiological Paradox'. Immigrants have a lower infant mortality and their children are healthier. For example, poor Mexican immigrants have a lower infant mortality and healthier children than native Whites. Migration happens differently in different epochs, an

Eye opener.

If you want to know more about the United States and the real stories about the people who build it and live there, this is the book for you. This isn't about the people who came over on the boats in black & white times; it's about the people who are coming here now. It discusses how the land we live in is being sculpted by the immigrants who arrive every day. I think people forget how incredibly diverse the United States is. And people most certainly forget about the challenges and triumphs of the people who come to the U.S. from other lands, and why they came in the first place. The authors clearly describe the stories of the people who make America 'America'.

Attributes that enable immigrants to assimilate US culture.

Immigrant America cites the Immigration Act of 1965 and world politics and economy as reasons for the second wave of immigrants in the twentieth century. The Act encouraged existing immigrants to bring members of their immediate families into the United States outside of government created quotas. Immigrants with "special skills" such as physicians, and professional engineers were given preference. In addition, certain refugees were given some preference. The majority of Immigrants after 1965 came from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean Islands. There was immigration from European countries but in less numbers than in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Immigrants from Asia included refugees from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and opportunity seekers from South Korea and China. Latin American and Caribbean immigrants came for similar reasons.Assimilation and AcculturationPortes and Rumbaut frame their discourse around the ability of different ethnic groups to become accepted into American society. Assimilation is the process of responding to new situations in conformity with what already exists in a culture. Acculturation is the cultural modification of people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture. It is also defined as a merging of cultures as a result of prolonged contact. The factors that influence assimilation and acculturation for new Americans include: the policy of the receiving government, conditions of the new country's labor market, and individual characteristics of the immigrant. The ability to use English was found to be of paramount importance in the assimilation process. Unlike other countries that are tolerant and accustomed to multilingual populations, the larger American community insists on the use of the native language of English by immigrants as a requirement for acceptance. In return the United States appears more tolerant of the practice of diverse cultural customs and religions than other counties. Therefore it is imperative that immigrants learn English, preferable unaccented English, for acceptance into the larger community. The authors point out that the assimilation process is hampered by the tendency of new immigrants to live in ethnic conclaves. This tendency is easily understood for the support value of living in a community where people share common language, customs, and history. The ability to transcend the ethnic conclave to mainstream American society is difficult for first generation immigrants. The assimilation and acculturation process is easier for subsequent generations, the rate of which is dependent on language and education. Immigrants who are fluent bilinguals have greater self-esteem and can assimilate more quickly than those who rely on their old language or have an ineffective use of English. Race continues to be a barrier to assimilation since the majority of Americans are of white European ancestry. Agai