Immigration Books

This book talks about a critical factor that shaped America - the large scale migrations of people from Europe in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The author starts with the causes of migrations - unemployement, famine, devastation of rural Europe, population pressure for arable land, etc., and moves to describe the ordeal of sea voyages of those times, the shock of the new land for survivors of the journey, settlement, lack of privacy and the shaping of the culture of migrants.

He narrates this history not like a historian narrating names and dates but as an able story teller. He is smart enough to weave causal explanations into a narrative mode. He does not name individual migrants, ships, dates of migration, quotes of Historians or cities of Europe and America. His history is not about individuals. It narrates the story of 'people' - that is migrants in a collective sense.

This book is written with a rare sensitivity. The descriptions of the ordeal of 'uprooting' and finding new roots are deeply moving. Some of most moving passages deal with the struggle to be able to afford a sea voyage; disease, starvation and death in over-crowded decks/cabins; and utter helplessness on landing in a new land.

Now in an updated and expanded fifth edition for 2002 (including all of the various procedural changes enacted by Congress and the INS in 2001), USA Immigration & Orientation is a thorough, comprehensive reference written expressly for people immigrating to and settling in the United States. From getting a green card or a visa to becoming a citizen to handling such matters as customs clearance, insurance, banking, buying a home, and more, USA Immigration & Orientation is a direct, easy-to-read, solidly reliable, highly recommended resource filled with so much useful information that even native born citizens of American can learn some useful tips by reading it!

The sub-title of this book is "Stories of War, Revolution, Flight, and New Beginnings." That about sums it up. Sucheng Chan, a well-known Southeast Asian scholar, edited the book which consists mostly of contributions by her Vietnamese students at the University of California in Santa Barbara. The book begins with 100 pages covering briefly the history of Vietnam, the Vietnam War, and the refugee crisis in its aftermath. We then have 150 pages of personal accounts by 15 Vietnamese American students of their escapes from Vietnam and and lives in America.

The book is hardly unique as rooms could be filled with books about the Vietnam War and about Vietnamese living in the U.S., and quite a few of them have delved more deeply than this one. The virtues of "The Vietnamese American 1.5 Generation" are a good introduction, well written background chapters, an epilog by the editor --a former refugee -- good notes and a good bibliography. The concept of a collaboration between students and teacher is also interesting and is fully explained in the introduction.

Smallchief

Visions held my interest cover to cover. I am not of Norwegian descent, and I would think that anyone who is would have event more reason to enjoy it. It starts out in Norway during the German Occupation and follows the journey of people to the US. The camaraderie, passions, hard work and community support experienced by people who came to the US during that time is seen through the eyes of several men and women looking for opportunity only found in America. It is a fun, easy and yet very informative read. It matches with the stories I heard from my grandparents who came from Europe through Ellis Island, much like the characters in Visions. This book would be great for anyone interested in what their family experienced coming to the US at that time, but of course people with Norwegian ancestry. The feverish building of that time comes alive in the descriptions of what the carpentry trade was like. There is a little romance and intrigue too. Excellent read. Highly recommended.

The voices of Asian American women in Asian American history, unfortunately, all to often go unheard. "Voices of the Heart: Asian American Women on Immigration, Work, and Family" offers a chance for them to be heard, speaking out in heartfelt stories about their journeys to America, their hopes, dreams, and how they have began to cope with life in America. Author Huping Ling interviewed a grand variety of Asian American women to get the most complete story possible. Highly recommended to anyone who seeks a more complete view of Americana and American history in general.

I haven't had time to catch up with all of the amazing number of books that Bauman has been writing in his 70s, but the others aren't likely to be any better than this one. Here is a great scholar, a passionate critic, and a deeply committed humanist--someone with lots of now-possibly-outmoded virtues--writing with the freedom of an old man and the fire of a youth, tackling the character of life in the last stages of its transformation by the universal market. It is a dark picture of fragmentation and the collapse of meaning, and of the hubris of a drive towards order that suffocates on the disorder it manufactures. Bauman's argument passes seamlessly from the plunder of globalized capitalism through international refugees, urban ghettos and banlieus, and closes with some surprising connections with the world of speed dating and "Survivor." Some of the keenest bits of insight and social criticism are tossed in as parentheticals, and along the way there are extended excurses addressing even larger considerations.

It is a visionary text rather than a piece of social science; Bauman's citations are more commonly to Cavino or Borges than they are to Durkheim or Parsons. (His picture of a contemporary world aestheticized by commodities is quite close to my own account in chapter 7 of "The fiction of a thinkable world," a book nobody would call sociology.) It's all the better for that. One comes away from this book with a book of one's own taking shape in thought.

The Fire Escape normally doesn't review non-fiction, but I had to bring this chronological story of America to your attention. If you're looking for one "textbook" to teach upper elementary or middle school students about immigration in America, the Hooblers have provided it. The book begins with speculation about immigration in prehistoric times and ends with an overview of what's happening today. Kids and adults alike will enjoy the stories, letters, and photos of immigrants who recount their own stories. As the jacket flap puts it, "Every child will find an ancestor or a contemporary in this moving story of the immigrant experience." I couldn't put it down, and especially liked the "people movement" take on American history.

This book brings to light some of the other populations that have faced discrimination for centries, the gypsies. Folts has personal knowledge that shines through the horror of Nazi Germany's devastating era. Everyone who is concerned about history repeating itself, should read this book. This is discrimination and scapegoating at its worst. Man's inhumanity to man. The book is well documented and thoughtfully written without sentiment.

This book is the official book published by the US Government as a guide to being a legal resident in the United States.

This book is available in several languages.

Every once in a while, a book is published that siginificantly advances knowledge. Thus, it is with great pleasure that I state that Dr. Nemata Amelia Blyden's book is bound to be regarded as one of the greatest books on West Africa produced in this decade. This brilliant, synchronic, historical tour de force teaches us about the trans-oceanic migration of West Indians from the Caribbean to Sierra Leone in the decades after slavery was abolished in the British colonies in 1807. Employing both primary and secondary sources, Dr. Blyden in the eight chapters of this book chronicles how the West Indians who immigrated to Sierra Leone during this period came to occupy numerous positions in the colony and the colonial administration; how they became an important minority, albeit not always well-liked; and the impetus for their power and influence. More tantalizing is how Dr. Blyden skillfully weaves together the economic, political, psychological and social contexts of the time (1808-1880) to tell this fascinating history in an interpretive style. In essence, any student of history and the social sciences should get a copy of this book. It represents effulgent scholarship