Review by Choice Review
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," wrote Emma Lazarus in 1883. Engraved on the Statue of Liberty, these words capture the abiding civic belief that the US is a nation open to all immigrants. Always evident, however, has been a tension concerning the details of such an idealistic immigration policy. In fact, the anti-immigrant impulse is as old as the republic itself and continues with robust fervor today. "This encyclopedia," writes editor Arnold, "serves an important role in informing readers not only about current anti-immigration ideas, events, policies, and figures, but also about the history of anti-immigration sentiment throughout American history." The work includes about 200 brief entries written by more than 100 contributors. Arranged alphabetically from "African Americans and Immigration" to "Zoot-Suit Riots," this set also features a brief introduction, three essays on US immigration policy, eight statistical tables, a select bibliography, and a thorough index. A separate volume features some 50 primary documents. The editor accurately notes that this encyclopedia should be seen as "not only a history of events--with a clear chronology--but also a history of ideas." Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers. T. Walch emeritus, Hoover Presidential Library
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Editor Arnold introduces this engaging title on the history of race-based opposition to immigrants with a quote from a 1996 issue of UCLA's newspaper, the Daily Bruin: When a woman got out of the cab, the same deputy beat her in the back with the baton, then grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to the ground. . . . Neither of the two Mexican citizens appeared to resist or attempt to get away from the white officers. As noted in the preface, This encyclopedia should be viewed as not only a history of events with a clear chronology but also a history of ideas; a marker of changing power dynamics in the United States; and a challenge to our democratic principles. The bulk of the two volumes consists of A-Z entries. Also included are 50 primary source documents, such as an 1859 Abraham Lincoln letter on Nativism, an 1885 New York Times article on the Rock Springs massacre, and an article by Tom Barry, A Death in Texas, from a 2009 issue of Boston Review. Closing out this source are several essays and a number of statistical appendixes. The signed entries break down topically into areas such as contemporary anti-immigration individuals, immigration institutions, and major immigration legislation. Examples include Ku Klux Klan and immigration, War on Terror, Minutemen, Bill O'Reilly, and Guest workers. Entries range from one to several pages. As a typical example, the entry for Hispanic discusses the use of the term within the context of the immigration debate, describes the activity of the 1975 Ad Hoc Committee on Racial and Ethnic Definitions, and provides summary arguments by scholars as to why the term is inappropriate (e.g., Scholars of race and ethnicity argued that the term - Hispanic' raised troubling sentiments in regards to identity and reinforced the notion of U.S. assimilation with little regard to the lived experiences of Hispanics ). This traditionally designed, specialized historical encyclopedia will be useful in undergraduate and larger public libraries.--Lichtenstein, Art A. Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
