Review by Choice Review
Among ethnic and racial groups in the US, Asian Indians consistently show the highest median incomes, the highest occupational prestige scores, and the highest levels of educational attainment. If one takes these as indicators of socioeconomic advantage, then Asian Indians are far more advantaged than the non-Hispanic white majority. Chakravorty (geography and urban studies, Temple), Kapur (political science, Penn), and Singh (economics, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz) give an outstanding, detailed account of the history of Asian Indians in the US and how they came to be so extraordinarily successful. Essentially, they argue that members of this national origin category have been selected for success. The authors divide post-1965 Indian immigration into three periods. Many immigrants were already well prepared educationally and professionally in the first two periods, the early movers (1965-79) and the family-based migrants (1980-94), but both numbers of arrivals and their occupational status really began to take off in what the authors call the IT (information technology) generation (from 1995 on). Selection, along with rapid economic assimilation and entrepreneurship, have enabled Indians to reach the top of US society. Supported by a wealth of statistical data and interviews, this is an indispensable work for anyone interested in contemporary immigration. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. --Carl Leon Bankston, Tulane University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
