Immigrant America: A Portrait

This third edition of the widely acclaimed classic has been thoroughly expanded and updated to reflect current demographic, economic, and political realities. Drawing on recent census data and other primary sources, Portes and Rumbaut have infused the entire text with new information and added a vivid array of new vignettes and illustrations.

Recognized for its superb portrayal of immigration and immigrant lives in the United States, this book probes the dynamics of immigrant politics, examining questions of identity and loyalty among newcomers, and explores the psychological consequences of varying modes of migration and acculturation. The authors look at patterns of settlement in urban America, discuss the problems of English-language acquisition and bilingual education, explain how immigrants incorporate themselves into the American economy, and examine the trajectories of their children from adolescence to early adulthood. With a vital new chapter on religion―and fresh analyses of topics ranging from patterns of incarceration to the mobility of the second generation and the unintended consequences of public policies―this updated edition is indispensable for framing and informing issues that promise to be even more hotly and urgently contested as the subject moves to the center of national debate..

Alejandro Portes is Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and Director of the Center for Migration and Development. He is the 2010 recipient of the W.E.B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award from the American Sociological Association.Rubén G. Rumbaut is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine, and Codirector of the Center for Research on Immigration, Population, and Public Policy. They are the coauthors of Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation and coeditors of Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants in America, both from UC Press.