This richly illustrated set is the definitive reference on American immigration from both historic and contemporary perspectives. It traces the scope and sweep of U.S. immigration from the earliest colonial settlements to the present, focusing on critical issues as well as the groups of people involved. The set fully documents and examines every major immigrant group and every era through detailed analysis of social, legal, political, economic, and demographic factors. Archival and contemporary photographs, along with hundreds of pages of documents and illustrations, further illuminate the information provided. Featuring a wealth of data derived from INS records, the U.S. Census, and the Departments of Commerce and Labor, Encyclopedia of American Immigration is divided into four parts: * Part I: History of U.S. Immigration - From colonial times to the present. * Part II: Immigration Issues - Includes laws and policy, politics, economics, labor, demographics, legal vs. illegal, the INS, culture, language, and more. * Part III: The Immigrant Groups by Region of the World * Part IV: Documents in American Immigration - Includes laws, historical census data, and other pertinent documents.
This four-part work is the latest by Ciment, the editor of a number of well-regarded reference works (e.g., The Encyclopedia of Third Parties in America, LJ 4/15/00). Part 1 covers the history of immigrant groups ranging from Native American Indians to Southeast Asian refugees, as well as a variety of historical topics such as nativism, living conditions, and legislation. The second, quite eclectic part covers issues ranging from the causes and processes of immigration to religion and gay immigrants. Part 3 discusses immigrants from various regions and countries. The last part is a collection of 75 laws, treaties, executive orders, cases, and other documents pertaining to immigration. The encyclopedia's board of advisers is composed of well-recognized experts in the field, including Nazli Kirba and Nancy Foner. The contributors are mostly academics with research experience in the various aspects of immigration. While understandably not as extensive as Grolier's ten-volume American Immigration (2001), this is a well-designed reference work that includes bibliographies, a glossary, cross references, and general, geographical, and legal/judicial indexes. Overall, a solid and useful work for academic and larger public libraries. Daniel Liestman, Kansas State Univ. Lib., Manhattan
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This encyclopedia examines the immigrant experience and how it continues to change America. From the first people to migrate to North America approximately 12,000 to 15,000 years ago to the people who are arriving as you read this, the movement of people into America, and the response to that movement, is detailed in a series of well-written essays and a compendium of immigration documents.
The set is made up of four major parts: "Immigration History," "Immigration Issues," "Immigrant Groups in America," and "Immigration Documents." "Immigration History" chronologically examines each new wave of immigration to the U.S and explores the causes, the reaction, how the immigrants were or were not assimilated, and how they affected mainstream American culture. This part includes discussions of such topics as the slave trade, Japanese internment, and the collapse of Communism. "Immigration Issues" concentrates on 13 broad topics as they relate to immigration, among them, legislation, labor, and religion. Human smuggling and illegal immigration, impacts on health care, and English as a second language are some of the specific issues that are explored. There is also a section on the major U.S. destinations of immigrants and another that discusses immigration to other areas of the world (Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, and Western Europe).
"Immigrant Groups in America" discusses the immigrants and immigration patterns of people from Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe. The final part, "Immigration Documents," includes the texts of laws and treaties, executive orders, directives and statements, Supreme Court cases, referenda, political platforms, debates, government reports and rulings, and nongovernmental documents such as historical articles and letters. Among them are the immigration planks of both the Republican and Democratic parties from 1856 to 1996, President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, and rulings on the return of Haitian refugees in 1992. Throughout the set, there are explanatory charts, graphs, and photographs. Each essay concludes with a bibliography and references to other pertinent essays in the set. Each volume contains a general index, a geographical index, and a legal and judicial index. The fourth volume includes a glossary.
This set will be essential in academic libraries and extremely useful in large and medium-sized public libraries for both students and the general public. Libraries already holding the Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America (2000) will find that The Encyclopedia of American Immigration complements it very well. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
