Immigrant America: A Portrait, Second edition, Revised, Expanded, and Updated |  | Authors: Alejandro Portes, Rub N G. Rumbaut
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $40.00
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Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 3943923
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 2 Sub
Pages: 421
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0520207866
Dewey Decimal Number: 304.873
EAN: 9780520207868
ASIN: 0520207866
Publication Date: January 8, 1997
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Condition: Sewn binding. Paper over boards. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade.
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Product Description
Widely acclaimed for its superb portrayal of immigration and immigrant lives in the United States, this work, first published in 1990, has become a classic. This second edition 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. As immigration moves to the center of national debate, this new edition is indispensable for framing and informing issues that promise to be even more hotly and urgently contested. 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 definitive new 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, Portes and Rumbaut 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. Portes and Rumbaut 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. In this rich new study, which will appeal as much to the general reader as to the policy maker and social scientist, Portes and Rumbaut provide a fascinating and complex portrait of America circa 1990. It is a powerful and distinguished contribution to the literature in American and immigrant studies.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Must-Read for all Americans... November 29, 2008
Jake Gay (LA, CA)
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'! br / br /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. br / br /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. br / br /Not a synopsis which other reviewers have provided, but here are some interesting nuggets from the book: br /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. br /2. The five most concentrated ethnic groups are Mexicans, Portuguese, Japanese, Filipinos and Norwegians. br /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.) br /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. br / br /Migration happens differently in different epochs, and thereby, a book of immigration, unlike a book on geometry, will not stand forever. But to abstract out the main factors underlying the phenomenon, so that it can be applied in different places, and different times, is really an achievement!
 i never received my book October 3, 2008
Angry woman (Quincy, MA)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this book in the beginning of September. They gave me about 20 days time span for delivery but I NEVER received it. I sent them e-mails asking about the book but I never received a response. I can't get a hold of them!!! Horrible service.
 Eye opener. August 5, 2003
A. Sullivan (Saint Paul, MN United States)
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
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. October 29, 1999
21 out of 24 found this review helpful
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.pAssimilation and AcculturationpPortes 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. Again, the mastery of unaccented proper English can ameliorate the discriminating effects of race. The higher than normal, two to three times, suicide rates among immigrants is remarkable and is purportedly related to the level of satisfaction of immigrants in their new situation. The highly educated and skilled immigrants who are unable to work at their chosen profession in the new county are most vulnerable as well as those immigrants who feel isolated from their families left in the old country. The inability to speak English well in the United States further intensifies this sense of isolation and leads to despair. The geographical location of immigrants impacts their rate of assimilation. Immigrants located in urban and rural areas may become acculturated into groups that are outside the main stream. Second generation immigrants attending school with marginalized social groups may adopt habits and values that run counter to the larger society. The generation gap between first and second generation immigrants is so wide that parents are dependent upon their children for clues on how to perform routine activities outside the home such as making purchases and obtaining services. Portes and Rumbaunt classified immigrants into three categories: those who live in ethnic conclaves with limited exposure to the larger society; ethnic middlemen who interface with the larger society as merchants; and sophisticates who by education, occupation, or command of unaccented English have successfully assimilated into mainstream American society.p * * *pImmigrant America makes use of research and statistics performed by the authors themselves, and others. Immigration data from the US Government is frequently analyzed and presented in tabular form and well explained. This work reads easily for non-academics who enjoy a technical and well research look at immigration without getting bogged down in theories and proofs. It would serve well as a supplemental reading for academic course work in American history, sociology, urban affairs, and family studies.
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