Immigrant America: A Portrait, Third edition. Revised, Expanded, and Updated
by Alejandro Portes, Rubén G. Rumbaut
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alejandro Portes, Rubén G. RumbautEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-10-03
ISBN: 0520250419
Number of pages: 460
Publisher: University of California Press
Book Reviews of Immigrant America: A Portrait, Third edition. Revised, Expanded, and Updated
Book Review: Must-Read for all Americans...
Summary: 5 Stars
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, 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!
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