From Ellis Island to JFK: New York's Two Great Waves of Immigration

ANNOTATION

Copublished with the Russell Sage Foundation

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In the history, the very personality, of New York City, few events loom larger than the wave of immigration at the turn of the last century. Today a similar influx of new immigrants is transforming the city again. Better than one in three New Yorkers is now an immigrant. From Ellis Island to JFK is the first in-depth study that compares these two huge social changes.

A key contribution of this book is Nancy Foner's reassessment of the myths that have grown up around the earlier Jewish and Italian immigration—and that deeply color how today's Asian, Latin American, and Caribbean arrivals are seen. Topic by topic, she reveals the often surprising realities of both immigrations. For example: Education: Most Jews, despite the myth, were not exceptional students at first, while many immigrant children today do remarkably well. Jobs: Immigrants of both eras came with more skills than is popularly supposed. Some today come off the plane with advanced degrees and capital to start new businesses. Neighborhoods: Ethnic enclaves are still with us but they're no longer always slums#151;today's new immigrants are reviving many neighborhoods and some are moving to middle-class suburbs. Gender: For married women a century ago, immigration often, surprisingly, meant less opportunity to work outside the home. Today, it's just the opposite. Race: We see Jews and Italians as whites today, but to turn-of-the-century scholars they were members of different, alien races. Immigrants today appear more racially diverse—but some (particularly Asians) may be changing the boundaries of current racial categories. Drawing on a wealth of historical and contemporary research and written in a lively and entertaining style, the book opens a new chapter in the study of immigration—and the story of the nation's gateway city.

About the Author: Nancy Foner is professor of anthropology at the State University of New York, Purchase. Copublished with the Russell Sage Foundation

SYNOPSIS

Two great waves of immigration—one at the start of the twentieth century and another in its final decades—transformed the history and personality of New York City. This book is the first in-depth comparison of New York's two immigration eras. Nancy Foner reassesses the myths that surround both sets of immigrants and explores topics ranging from gender roles to racial attitudes to the role of education in assimilation. Copublished with the Russell Sage Foundation

FROM THE CRITICS

Roger Sanjek - City Limits

Move aside, Glazer and Moynihan! With From Ellis Island to JFK, we have a welcome replacement for Beyond the Melting Pot.

Vincent Crapanzano - Times Literary Supplement

An exemplary book ... a telling portrait of New York immigration in its two great waves ... cleanses both movements of their mythic incrustations.

Rudolph Vecoli - Journal of American History

An important book which both clarifies and complicates our thinking about immigration in the United States.

Roger Sanjek - City Limits

Move aside,Glazer and Moynihan! With From Ellis Island to JFK,we have a welcome replacement for Beyond the Melting Pot.

Vincent Crapanzano - Times Literary Supplement

An exemplary book . . . a telling portrait of New York immigration in its two great waves . . . cleanses both movements of their mythic incrustations.Read all 9 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

By comparing the two big waves of immigration in New York City, Foner has found a distinctive and enlightening way of describing the country's recent racial and ethnic history. Her subject may be New York City, but Foner's book is really about America. It should thus become essential reading for scholars, students, public officials and everyone else concerned with immigration as well as race and ethnicity in American life.
(— Herbert Gans, author of Popular Culture and High Culture)  — Herbert Gans

Foner's new book is a thorough, comprehensive and carefully comparative analysis of the experience of the two big waves of immigration in NYC. The book will be essential reading for scholars, students, public officials and everyone else concerned with immigration as well as race and ethnicity. Her subject may be NYC, but since the city is one of the country's two major centers of immigration, Foner's book is really about America. It should thus become a basic reference on immigration, race and ethnicity in American life. By comparing the two waves of immigration, Foner has found a distinctive and enlightening way of describing the country's recent racial and ethnic history. — (Herbert J. Gans, Robert S. Lynd Prof. of Sociology at Columbia University. Author of Popular Culture and High Culture)

A fascinating guide to the place of immigrants in American society and history—unusually objective, lucid, and nuanced. — (Reed Ueda, Tufts University)

Through her masterful comparison of the experience of immigrants in two historical eras, Foner challenges the doomsayers among us who argue that today's newcomers are somehow 'different:' poorer, more desperate, less educated, racially distinct, and ultimately less assimilable. On the contrary, her analysis reveals a remarkable continuity in the underlying causes of immigration, the mechanisms that sustain it, and the motivations of those who cross boundaries in search of better lives. She shows that today's immigrants, as a group, are better-educated, better-housed, and more prepared for the challenges of U.S. life than those of the past. Her lucid account suggests that the differences, to the extent that they exist, stem more from the changed nature of American society than from any transformation in the character or aspirations of immigrants. — (Douglas S. Massey, Dorothy Swaine Thomas Professor of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania )