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Does activism matter? This book answers with a clear "yes." American Indian Ethnic Renewal traces the growth of the American Indian population over the past forty years, when the number of Native Americans grew from fewer than one-half million in 1950 to nearly 2 million in 1990. This quadrupling of the American Indian population cannot be explained by rising birth rates, declining death rates, or immigration. Instead, the growth in the number of American Indians is the result of an increased willingness of Americans to identify themselves as Indians. What is driving this increased ethnic identification? In American Indian Ethnic Renewal, Joane Nagel identifies several historical forces which have converged to create an urban Indian population base, a reservation and urban Indian organizational infrastructure, and a broad cultural climate of ethnic pride and militancy. Central among these forces was federal Indian "Termination" policy which, ironically, was designed to assimilate and de-tribalize Native America. Reactions against Termination were nurtured by the Civil Rights era atmosphere of ethnic pride to become a central focus of the native rights activist movement known as "Red Power." This resurgence of American Indian ethnic pride inspired increased Indian ethnic identification, launched a renaissance in American Indian culture, language, art, and spirituality, and eventually contributed to the replacement of Termination with new federal policies affirming tribal Self- Determination. American Indian Ethnic Renewal offers a general theory of ethnic resurgence which stresses both structure and agency--the role of politics and the importance of collective and individual action--in understanding how ethnic groups revitalize and reinvent themselves. Scholars and students of American Indians, social movements and activism, and recent United States history, as well as the general reader interested in Native American life, will all find this an engaging and informative work. ... Read more

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An interdisciplinary collection of essays, and historical documents, that introduces readers to the many issues fueling the growth of Asian American Studies ... Read more

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Do Latinos really identify as such?
Suzanne Oboler is a well-respected Latino studies professor at Brown University.In this book, she interviews immigrants from Latin America and asks if they identify as Latino and see themselves as having anything in common with other Latinos, those outside of their national origin group.Basically, she asks Latin Americans in the US themselves whether they accept this country's racial categorizations.What she finds is that working-class Latinos merely look at others as fellow Spanish-speakers and shrug US racial classifications off (though not in a hostile way) whereas Latin Americans from middle-class backgrounds were quite aware that the minority label opened access to affirmative action programs and other tangible benefits and thus embraced the label.This conclusion seems counterintuitive and is fascinating.Oboler grounds her discussion by talking of Puerto Rican and Chicano activism in this country.Even though she is of Peruvian descent, she is knowledgeable about the more populous Latino groups.This text is well-respected among ethnic studies scholars.Anyone interested in books on Latinos and Latinas in the US must obtain a copy of Oboler's work.

Professor Oboler Rocks!
Well structured, thoughtful, insightful, and emotionally engaging. Candid and effective for being so. Bravo to her, waiting for the next one anxiously. ... Read more

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Revealing why Hindu-Muslim riots in India break out when and where they do, Steven Wilkinson demonstrates why some state governments in India prevent Hindu-Muslim riots while others do not or even help to incite violence.Wilkinson asserts that riots are manipulated to help win elections, and that state governments decide whether to stop them--depending on electoral calculations concerning the loss or gain of votes.He tests this claim using a dataset on riots and their causes as well as case studies of several Indian states. ... Read more

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This study focuses on the research literature about television and ethnic minorities. It seeks to go "behind the scenes" and examine from the practioners' perspectives, the production of minority ethnic programmes. It focuses on the roles played by the mass media in maintaining and reproducing racialized discourses, forms of racial inequality and boundaries of ethnic inclusion and exclusion. Rather than being concerned with the level of representations - whether in relation to press and broadcast news, or television, film and other entertainment media and genres - the work is more concerned with the poverty and quality of representations, the narrow band and lack of diversity of character types in comedy and drama, or fetishized within a racialized demonology in factual programming; the negative connotations which such images provoke which lie at the centre of the representation debate in the media mainstream. ... Read more

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The Indian American community is one of the fastest growing immigrant communities in the U.S. Unlike previous generations, they are marked by a high degree of training as medical doctors, engineers, scientists, and university professors.

American Karma draws on participant observation and in-depth interviews to explore how these highly skilled professionals have been inserted into the racial dynamics of American society and transformed into "people of color." Focusing on first-generation, middle-class Indians in American suburbia, it also sheds light on how these transnational immigrants themselves come to understand and negotiate their identities.

Customer Reviews (2)

Great
Finally a book that deals with race in the Indian immigrant community. As a first generation Indian American I can relate to the book very well. The author brings together many excellent examples to illustrate the ways in which Indian Americans experience race in America. The focus is on the hidden and subtle ways in which discrimination takes place. A must read to understand the complex ways in which identity works.

disappointing
As an anthropologist and a high-tech employee with lots of Indian friends and colleagues, I found the book shallow. I had high hopes when I bought it to find a book I could share with others. I did learn some things, for instance the author claims that professional Indians in diaspora have to deal with a "people of color" issue. I was also sorry to learn that some children of Indians had trouble finding play dates. Maybe it's Connecticut and the whole Stamford thing. I was uncomfortable in my New England prep school and I am Caucasian. My only awareness of the "color" issue is that right after 9/11 my Indian friends, along with my Hispanic friends, found themselves indistinguishable by the average ignoramus from potential terror suspects when on airplanes. I did not think the ethnography was adequate or deep enough, and the fact that psychologists have suddenly "discovered" ethnography does not excuse them from doing a proper job of it. Interviewing a circle of friends, for instance, does not really cover the territory, and there was no evidence from other parts of the US or UK for generalizing the diaspora question. As well, there is whole set of reference material on cross-cultural communication that is missing, case in point the extensive work of John J Gumperz, who specifically wrote on India. As well, the book does not deal with the multi-cultural essence of India itself, where language groups mingle with certain conventions acrosss the boundaries on a regular basis. I would have to see the reviews of Indians in the US to know whether the book resonated well with them. Unfortunately, although I diligently finish almost every book I start, I could not finish this one despite my original interest in the subject matter. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Don't know what the other reviewer is thinking
this book was really good!Well rounded text.Great format (although small print).Nearly 350 pages.I would highly recommend to Women's Studies, Black Studies, Queer Theory, English majors (studying African American lit).

Hardcore Jargon on Intersectional Group
For decades, African-American studies scholars have left issues facing non-heterosexuals to the side.For years, "queer" scholars have left concerns of people of color to the side.This anthology tries to address that void.It goes a long way in proving that black, gay academics can be just a rigorous and hardcore as white gay ones or straight black ones.The anthology has representative numbers of men and women.In some ways, it's a Who's Who of Black Gay Academia, including works from Cathy Cohen, Dwight McBride, and Jewelle Gomez.

Still, there is much about this book that frustrated me.A few years ago, a study was done of black LGBTs and most respondents said they hated the term "queer," yet the academics here champion it.Really, if "queer" is supposed to represent the four groups equally, then this book was quite lacking in its coverage of bisexuals and the transgendered.This is surprising given famous black bisexual writers such as Alice Walker, Stuart Hall, and June Jordan.Often "people of color" is used when only blacks are brought up; Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans barely come up in this book at all.

James Baldwin is brought up often here.I understand that.His writings were rigorous and often dealt with racial and sexual issues simultaneously.Still, I kept thinking about how bell hooks once wrote that Toni Morrison gets a lot of attention when publishers won't print the works of black women that are equally as sophisticated.James Baldwin deserves his crown in black, gay letters, but I'm concerned about him being the only one to get to wear a crown.Several books have been printed about the many non-hetero members of the Harlem Renaissance, yet that group hardly comes up here.James is getting a bit played out and the authors here are not helping change that tendency.

Finally, I had beef with many of the essays.Charles Nero has great points but his essay is really two works glued together.Can anyone really say the whiteness of New Orleans' "gay ghetto" is due to "Chasing Amy" or "Six Feet Under"?One author could have written quickly about how he supported a gay, feminine student when that student was condemned by a masculine, heterosexual one.Instead, he went on and on in unnecessary jargon and babble.Kara Keeling's essay was 90% theory and 10% a discussion of Dunye's "Watermelon Woman."Why bother to bring up the film if you're barely going to discuss it?

I wasn't really feelin' this text, but that's not to say it didn't have great aims. ... Read more

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The Ethnic Dimension in American History is a thorough survey of the role that ethnicity has played in shaping the history of the United States.  Considering ethnicity in terms of race, language, religion and national origin, this important text examines its effects on social relations, public policy and economic development.

• A thorough survey of the role that ethnicity has played in shaping the history of the United States, including the effects of ethnicity on social relations, public policy and economic development
• Includes histories of a wide range of ethnic groups including African Americans, Native Americans, Jews, Chinese, Europeans, Japanese, Muslims, Koreans, and Latinos
• Examines the interaction of ethnic groups with one another and the dynamic processes of acculturation, modernization, and assimilation; as well as the history of immigration
• Revised and updated material in the fourth edition reflects current thinking and recent history, bringing the story up to the present and including the impact of 9/11

Customer Reviews (1)

Great read!
This book is amazing.The breakdown and writing is clear, concise, and very interesting.Recommend to anyone that wants a quick historic rundown of history of immigration in the U.S. ... Read more

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This text uses a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on sociology, history, psychology, and other social sciences to focus on the factors that contribute to the merger or separation of different racial and ethnic groups in the U.S.

The authors present historical information and contemporary examples of the largest ethnic and minority groups in the United States. They analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the assimilation model in explaining how various racial and ethnic groups have been incorporated (or not) into U.S. society. Focusing on interracial and interethnic relations in the U.S., McLemore and Romo give a sociological analysis of intergroup processes and the history of the interactions of racial and ethnic groups. Organized thematically rather than chronologically, the text illuminates the main racial and ethnic dilemmas faced in America.

Customer Reviews (4)

History we never Learn about
Although the book does focus on most of the white people who were racist... It also contains some helpful history on Native Americans and Vietnamese immigration. The history of racism is fairly hard to talk about without addressing the violence and hatred that has actually occurred.

Just as Described
When I received the book it was in new condition and just as described.I was very happy with the quality of the purchase.My only complaint is that I paid for expedited shipping and it said it was in stock but it took at least a day or two for it to ship, once it shipped it was here in no time though.

Very biased against "Whites"
It is a shame to think that some teachers are using this as their only text.As such, it gives a totally distorted view of so-called "Anglos" and "Whites" in America.For instance, in the chapters on American Indians, the Spanish depravity visited on the indigenous peoples in what is now the American west and southwest isn't even mentioned.The authors assertions of peaceful assimilation by the Spanish of the indigenous peoples (p. 199) is irresponsible and absurd.But this book is sure to please the America-hating politically correct crowd that equates white European Americans with Satan.

"Interethnic Relations In America" forces me think
Early this Spring I decided to take on the task ofan Honors Intercultural Studies course at De Anza College. Although I had taken many classes of the same genre, little could have prepared me for the mass ofknowledge that I would obtain. Through reading an average of 60-80 pages of"Interethnic Relations in America" each week, I have been able togain not only a cultural perspective, but a sociological and historical onetoo! I have found that although it is challenging because it contains SOmuch information, that it reigns as a great work because it is seeminglynon-biased, very modern, and well written. I would definetly reccommendthis book to people of all ages, races, ethnicities, regardless of their"cultural baggage." I have been forced to think, and thus I feelcompelled to share my experinces with others. This book can truly changeyour life in many ways! Not to mention that my professor has used it atboth Stanford and Berkeley in the past! ... Read more

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Report from the Committee on Understanding and Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care and the Board on Health Sciences Policy. Examines how disparities in treatment may arise in healthcare systems and looks at aspects of the clinical encounter contributing to such disparities. Highlights cross-cultural education to improve communication. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Why Bother?
Most of the information in this book is available online.I bought it because it was required for a college course, then I never even opened it.

Incredibly well researched
This is a really important national study of health disparities in the US - mainly health disparities between African Americans and Caucasians (but other ethnic groups are occasionally mentioned).It shows that African Americans experience higher rates of certain medical conditions than other ethnic groups (e.g. diabetes), but also identifies clinical and practical barriers and forms of discrimination which result in inferior treatment.Importantly, it does not address inequalities which stem from discrepancies in insurance coverage -- this is a major limitation, I think.

A word of warning - this is published by the National Institutes of Medicine, so it is incredibly academic - there is a comprehensive, but somewhat excessive, literature review of some topics that lasts 126 pages. Useful for public health/epidemiology students (particularly grad students), but not for the general reader.

Although there is an Executive Summary at the beginning, it is also written in a very academic, rather than accessible, tone. So I would suggest the intended audience is really public health/epidemiology professionals.

... Read more

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Blacks have been vanishing from college campuses in the United States and reappearing in prisons, videos, and movies. Cecil Brown tackles this unwitting "disappearing act" head on, paying special attention to the situation at UC Berkeley and the University of California system generally. Brown contends that educators have ignored the importance of the oral tradition in African American upbringing, an oversight mirrored by the media. When these students take exams, their abilities are not tested. Further, university officials, administrators, professors, and students are ignoring the phenomenon of the disappearing black student – in both their admissions and hiring policies. With black studies departments shifting the focus from African American and black community interests to black immigrant issues, says Brown, the situation is becoming dire. Dude, Where’s My Black Studies Department? offers both a scorching critique and a plan for rethinking and reform of a crucial but largely unacknowledged problem in contemporary society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

fun gossip but no good for anything else
Far too reliant on personal, anecdotal evidence--often gets facts such as names, dates, places and definitions wrong. Fun if you want to read what pisses Brown off; other than that, worse than useless because it is so opinionated.

At last, someone's saying it
This is an important book because it critiques a glaring problem in higher education in general, and specifically in the massive University of California system.Ever since proposition 209 was passed in California, effectively outlawing affirmative action, the black student population in the UC system has dropped to absurdly small numbers.In schools like UC Berkeley, which were once centers of the Black and Civil Rights movements, Blacks are now almost invisible outside of a few courageous and well-executed protests.Along with the drop in the student population comes a hollowing-out of Black Studies departments.These departments were formed in the '60's with a mission of community outreach and action.The idea was to have at least one department in the academy that reflected and worked with the communities that the universities were geographically close to, instead of keeping the Ivory Tower locked and isolated.But since then, Black Studies departments have lost that mission; they have become much more focused on the global African Diaspora than on African Americans.Although the African Diaspora is certainly worth studying, it should not overshadow the importance of African Americans in our own society and culture.Brown discusses the cultural import of Hip-Hop and its impact on the academy.

Cecil Brown discusses all this with the voice of experience: he has been in and out of the UC system for much of his life, and experienced shocking racism and exclusion from the system.

This is a book that the right people need to read.Anybody who is in higher education (especially administrators) should spend time with this book, and think about these issues.In a time when racial diversity has become a catch-phrase, what are we doing to create a truly more equitable society? ... Read more

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Increasingly, church leaders are recognizing the intrinsic power and beauty of the multi-ethnic church. Yet, more than a good idea, it's a biblical, first-century standard with far-reaching evangelistic potential. How can your church overcome the obstacles in order to become a healthy, fruitful multi-ethnic church of faith? And why should you even try?In Ethnic Blends, multi-ethnic church pioneer Mark DeYmaz provides an up-close and personal look at seven common challenges to mixing diversity into your local church. Through real-life stories and practical illustrations, DeYmaz shows how to overcome the obstacles in order to build a healthy multi-ethnic church. He also includes the insights of other effective, multi-ethnic local church leaders from the United States and Australia.Ethnic Blends describes what effective local churches in the 21st century will look like and shows us how to create them, together as one, beyond race and class distinctions. --Miles McPherson, Senior Pastor, The Rock Church, San Diego, CAMark DeYmaz, perhaps more than any pastor in America, has his pulse on what it will take for the Church to find real reconciliation in our generation. --Matt Carter, Lead Pastor, Austin Stone Community Church, Austin, TX ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Ethnic Diversity for Your Church Explained
This book is a great, and very current, overview and "coaching manual" for steering your church in a more multi-cultural directions. The fact is that many churches being planted today are in areas where they have a GREAT opportunity to create, from the ground up, an environment that celebrates different cultures, ethnicities, and even languages.

There are practical examples of this throughout, and some great advice for anybody who is sensitive to this issue, and most in the church should be.

There is a kind of "multi-cultural" church that isn't addressed however. In some places, such as the place I live, there is an overwhelming majority of one particular race. My area is, I kid you not, about 95 or 97 percent white. But we do have different "class cultures" for sure, and that is another kind of diversity that I'd love to see addressed more in the future. Not a criticism of the book by any stretch, it's not what they are addressing, but it is something that authors like this could possibly address well.

But for those of you in more metropolitan or very diverse areas, this is a great read to help you minister to ALL the people, and hopefully turn that hour on Sunday away from being "the most segregated hour of the week".

An authoritative church reference
Churches struggling with issues of diversity and ethnic representation will welcome Mark Deymaz and Harry Li's ETHNIC BLENDS: MIXING DIVERSITY INTO YOUR LOCAL CHURCH. It covers common obstacles churches face in trying to blend in different ethnicities, and provides paths for a church to become a healthy, multi-ethnic representation of faith. The authors are multi-ethnic church pioneers with a track record in addressing and successfully handling barriers to church growth, making this an authoritative church reference.

A book that wouldn't be needed....
This book would be unnecessary - is unnecessary. It should be replaced with a book that explains that an oligarchy is unscriptural. The scriptural concept of "elders" was NOT an elected oligarchy, subject to the approval of denominational headquarters (that's a Roman fabrication) but rather it consisted of the alpha male of each family, representing that family. If you have that, you don't need a white majority dropping crumbs to a black or hispanic unrepresented minority.

The book is dealing with symptoms, not the fundamental problem.

Elders:

LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
Exodus 4:29And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel:
Exodus 12:21Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.
Exodus 17:5And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
Exodus 17:6Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Exodus 18:12And Jethro, Moses' father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father in law before God.
etc...

Honest and shoots from the hip
Ethnic Blends tackles the sensitive issues in regards to race that no one really wants to talk about especially in the church.I like the fact that the book was very transparent about its own mistakes and sensitive issues.This book tugs at the heart of anyone wanting to unify christians of various backgrounds to show the love of Christ.

Ethnic Blends- Multi-Ethnic Coffee!
Everyone who drinks coffee knows that the flavor is in the blend you use.Some choose this brand, others choose that brand because of the flavor.At my church, we have the Seattle's Best Blend and the cheap blend and the difference is quite staggering.

This book is about bringing together people of different ethnicities and building a church.It's about building a community here on earth that will reflect the community in heaven: "And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God." (Luke 13:29 ESV)

This book is also about what struggles and battles will be faced when there is an attempt to make a church look like heaven.It's counter-cultural in most church circles.

The authors are passionate about dis-engaging the homogenous mode of thinking and embracing the multi-ethnic blend of coffee that God himself drinks!

I really learned a ton from this book.I picked this book out because I am a part of a Multi-Ethnic church and am a pastor to Middle School student within that paradigm and I wanted to learn more about how to minister to them.Even though I came from a blended church, I still felt I needed more education on how to deal with it and after reading this book, I know I was right (and still have TONS to learn).

This book is filled with story after story that shows the authentic, honest, rewarding and hard calling of being a multi-ethnic community.I was particularly touched by a story where two brothers of a different ethnicity got into a fight.Instead of storming away and leaving the church these two men of God desired to work it out and although it was hard they worked it out to the glory of God!

After they worked it out, one of the brothers was on the schedule to preach and he felt the Holy Spirit leading him to wash the other brothers feet.It was hard and he did it with the leading of the Holy Spirit and God did a work in the congregation that day! (this story is found on pages 175-178)

There are more and more stories laced throughout the book that point to God doing a mighty work in and through the Multi-Ethnic blend of community.

As I said before, I gleaned a ton from this book, but I think the thing that I will attach to my life right away comes from Chapter 6- Roasting for Flavor and is an outline of 1 Corinthians 9:19-23.The authors have 3 bits of instruction to help overcome the Cross-Cultural Obstacles that pop up from these verses.

1. You Must Surrender Your Rights (1 Corinthians 9:19)
Our ideas about church and life are not always right.If it isn't a Biblical mandate, it's subject to change!We can't be stuck in "our way" when we desire to be multi-ethnic, because with that much difference in culture, there will be that much difference in opinion!We (I) must be flexible!

2. You Must Extend Yourself to Others
To Those Most Like You (1 Corinthians 9:20)
It's OK to care about your own Ethnic group, but not to the exclusion of the rest of God's body

To Those Least Like You (1 Corinthians 9:21-22)
We must care for the WHOLE body of Christ and offer ourselves up to others of different ethnicities.

3. You Must Not Be Dogmatic (1Corinthians 9:22)
Don't be rigid in how you do things!Again, if it's not going against the Bible, it's subject to change!

These three things I know I will attach to my life and live out before my Middle Schoolers and I will encourage them to do so as well.I love what these authors are doing and talking about.It is great to see such passion and fervor for the Multi-ethnic church.I hope to continue to instill these truths into my teens to make our church even more diverse than it ever was!

Lastly, the authors caution anyone from undertaking this ideology without first knowing it will put a target on your back.They end the book with some of the Spiritual toils they've dealt with once they've decided to go multi-ethnic.When we are doing God's work, God's way we can expect (as the authors remind us) a huge reaction from Satan.May we, as we all endevor to do this great work God has called us to commit ourselves to the Lord's care and remain close to Him! ... Read more

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This carefully written guide helps students better understand the material presented in the text. Each chapter consists of chapter summaries, definitions of key terms/concepts, critical thinking exercises geared to the questions in the text and self-test questions page referenced to the text. ... Read more

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Cultural diversity Study Guide
As a new instructor for an online class, I found this study guide to be concise and logical in it's layout. It is not meant to replace the in-depth analysis of the text and should not be used as such. That said, it is a helpful tool to reinforce the main concepts. ... Read more

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This book studies five ethnic communities_South Asian Americans, African Americans, Japanese Americans, Mexican Americans, and Samoan Americans_to understand how their members feel about being studied by researchers. Focusing on trust-building as a necessary process in doing good community research, this book offers the reader culturally sensitive methods to approach interaction and interviewing members of each of these unique, multifaceted ethnic communities. ... Read more

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This timely new collection addresses the problems of ethnic conflict regulation. The editors begin with an assessment of the morality, feasibility, and consequences of the primary methods used by governments to eliminate or manage ethnic conflicts. They include examples from the normatively desirable, such as federalism, to the morally appalling, such as genocide. Their introduction is followed by a comprehensive set of case studies written by leading authorities on conflicts in Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. Various studies analyze developments in South Africa between 1989 and 1992, the explosive events in the former Yugoslavia, and lesser known conflicts in Canada, Fiji, Malaysia, and other countries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An important contribution to the conflict regulation theory
This book is an important contribution to the theory of ethnic conflict regulation developed by scholars such as Lijphart, Nordlinger and Horowitz. Especially, the introduction part by O'Leary and MacGarry is excellent inthe sense that it succeeded in incorporating the massive volume of existingcases and theories in a fairly organised way.

However, it isregrettable that the following case studies are a bit messy, and do notcorrespond to, nor pay attention to the editors' taxonomy.

Nonetheless,for those who are seriously interested in ethnic conflict regulation, thisvolume is worth reading. ... Read more

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There is an ongoing debate as to whether African American Studies is a discipline, or multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary field. Some scholars assert that African American Studies use a well-defined common approach in examining history, politics, and the family in the same way as scholars in the disciplines of economics, sociology, and political science. Other scholars consider African American Studies multidisciplinary, a field somewhat comparable to the field of education in which scholars employ a variety of disciplinary lenses-be they anthropological, psychological, historical, etc., --to study the African world experience. In this model the boundaries between traditional disciplines are accepted, and researches in African American Studies simply conduct discipline based an analysis of particular topics. Finally, another group of scholars insists that African American Studies is interdisciplinary, an enterprise that generates distinctive analyses by combining perspectives from different traditional disciplines and synthesizing them into a unique framework of analysis. ... Read more

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introduction to african american studies
this book was extremely informative and i have a better understanding of the issues involved.the author really explained the subject of the african american experience with intelligence and sophistication.i would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the african american culture! ... Read more

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A distinguished economist traces the history of nine American ethnic groups--the Irish, the Germans, the Jews, the Italians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Blacks, the Puerto Ricans, and the Mexicans--in order to explain their varied experiences in adapting to American society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Excellent history of ethnic America
The United States government classifies its citizens and noncitizen residents as American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and White; and also as Hispanic or Latino, or not. This is a Borgesian taxonomy that has nothing to do with the historic experience of various ethnic groups in the United States, their cultures, skills and lifestyles; its sheer bizarreness is reminiscent of the Soviet Union's assignment of "nationality" to all its citizens. The reality is that as this land was forcibly taken from the native Indians, it was populated by several waves of voluntary immigrants from different countries, as well as by one wave of African slaves brought against their will. They were as different from each other as any other peoples of the world, and their differences persisted in the United States, and to a lesser extent in their American-born children and grandchildren. This book briefly tells the story of nine ethnic groups in the United States: the Irish, the Germans, the Italians and the Jews from Europe, the Chinese and the Japanese from Asia, the blacks from Africa, and the Puerto Ricans and the Mexicans from Latin America. Each ethnic group is in turn composed of different subgroups with different histories of their own; the Sephardic Jews who lived in America since the 17th century were overwhelmed by the German Jews in the mid-19th century, who were in turn overwhelmed by the 2 million Eastern European Jews who came from the 1880s through the 1920s. Most blacks in the United States are descendants of slaves, who numbered 4 million at the time of the Civil War, but many are descendants of free blacks, of whom there were half a million; the descendants of the latter were overrepresented among the black elite; and how do you classify the rich slave-owning mulatto Creoles of New Orleans and their descendants? Even the slaves differed from one another, and so did their descendants; a Minneapolis city council candidate recently noted in a speech that his great-grandfather was a house slave, not a field slave.

All these ethnic groups, and many others not covered in this book, built this country with their labor and their talents. However, these talents are concentrated in different occupations. There are disproportionately many American Jewish physicists and computer scientists, including Nobel Prize and Turing Award winners; in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks 340 firefighters died, 3 of whom were Jewish; the fraction of Jews among the New Yorkers is much greater than 3/340. Many German farmers, such as Dwight Eisenhower's father, prospered in America; attempts to get the Jews to farm have universally failed. When the Jews arrived in America, they hungrily took advantage of the public schools and colleges and the public libraries; when the Italians did, they didn't; my Italian American college English teacher told his class that in the 1930s, the police had to tell his grandparents that they would go to jail if they keep their daughter away from school. The Irish in America were great politicians, which followed from their tradition of clandestine organizing against the foreign overlords of their native country; the Japanese weren't. In the middle of the last century, a self-employed Japanese immigrant was likely to be a gardener; 50 years earlier a self-employed Jewish immigrant was likely to be a peddler; 50 years earlier a self-employed Irish immigrant was likely to be a saloon keeper. The Irish Americans so excelled in boxing that Jewish boxers took Irish stage names; the German Americans excelled in baseball.

Different American ethnic groups have different demographics and geographical distributions: the Puerto Ricans have many more children than do the Jews and are thus younger on average; half of all blacks still lived in the cheap South when this book was written, and most Japanese Americans lived in expensive Hawaii and California. However, even after factoring out all this, the fact would still remain that some American ethnic groups are vastly richer and better educated than others. How much of it is due to discrimination and other forces outside their control, and how much is due to their own culture? Many of the immigrant waves were poor peasants in their native country who first started living in cities in America; the Irish were like this in the 1840s, the Italians around the turn of the last century, and many Mexicans are such even now. After coming to America, the Irish lived in terrible squalor; when the Irish moved into a neighborhood, most residents moved away from their violence and infectious diseases, prefiguring the "white flight" of post-World War II America. The blacks are a special case, and the chapter on them, Sowell's own ethnic group, is the one most painful to read because other than the numerically small Native Americans, they are the most distinctive and unassimilable of all.

#7 The best of its kind ever written.
This book puts to rest all theories on eugenics, and all forms of real racism as well as affirmative action. It is unique and the best of its kind ever written.

Must read
Even thought it's a little dated, this book provides a fascinating look at different ethnic groups & how they've been able to fare after migrating to the United States. I would have to say that living in NYC around most of the groups described in this book, Sowells conclusions are mostly spot on. It's also very helpful that he bases most of the book on facts, not fiction and writes in a neutral, unbiased tone.

The only groups that are obviously missing & relevant to today's ever changing face of America are South Asians, Arabs & Russians. I hope that the author can provide a second edition to include these groups as well, since they play an important role in shaping the history of our great country as much as the groups already discussed.

Ethnic in America
Thomas Sowell is well known for his insightful and thought provoking articles and books. He was never the one to shy away from a difficult subject, and that is certainly the case with as polarizing topic as race and ethnicity. In American political discourse, race and ethnicity are given either too much attention or not enough, and the motivations for the attention given are oftentimes misguided. Between the polar extremes of nativists and cultural relativists, there is a considerable room for exploration that has not been given proper attention. Behind the myth of America as a melting pot, there lays the reality of many ethnic groups arriving here and staying loyal to their ethnic and cultural identities for many generations at a time. For instance, the rate of intermarriage for the first few generations of immigrants is pretty low.

Thomas Sowell is at his best when relating some peculiar historical fact about a particular ethnic group that more often than not hasn't made its way into the history books. He tries to be honest and fair to everyone, but he is not kowtowing to the PC rhetoric. The particular stories of different ethnic groups are enlightening and revealing of all sorts of different circumstances under which people have immigrated into the United States. However, it is not always clear when these stories are completely based on the historical evidence, and when they are just second or third hand accounts. Sometimes there is danger of painting the ethnic picture with too wide of a strokes.

The only big problem that I have with this book is that it tries to convey the impression that the only major differences between ethnic groups in America are due to Culture. This is one of the themes that Sowell returns to a lot in his writings. The positive effect of that outlook is the notion that with a change of cultural outlook all ethnic groups are equally likely to better themselves and succeed in America. However, this neglects the growing amount of evidence that points to the fact that our biological differences do play a significant role in how we behave. Neglecting that lesson can have very undesirable consequences.

sex, drugs and rock n roll
is what it should be called, bc that's what is ethnic to me. Maybe that's racist, but that's the books point. We're all racist might as well have a good time, and get freaky with it. Look when we landed on Plymouth rock it wasn't the Indians that were our problems. It was the Irish that we're gonna be showing up 300 years later demanding Chinese Salaries for things the blacks were doing just to sleep with all the white women. Hopefully that didn't ruin the book for you, but it's all in there. How the Indians brought ethnicity to the masses. The day we discovered the mexican hiding under a rock. The quizzes are great and the how to make your own hong kong phooey is so cosmic North Korea would say tiger style in a bathtub. The Japanes have sushi, we have ethnic America. Love it or Leave it, just cut me a line, cuz I'm gonna snort some. ... Read more