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The historians explore America's paradoxical relationship with immigration: a nation of immigrants that has always feared immigrants. From the Naturalization Act of 1790 to the current debates.
Highlights
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Every wave of American immigration was met with the same arguments: they'll take our jobs, change our culture, and refuse to assimilate
Connolly catalogs the identical arguments used against Irish (1840s), Chinese (1880s), Southern European (1900s), and Latin American (2000s) immigrants. The arguments never change; only the target group does.•
American identity is perpetually defined by excluding the newest arrivals — who then become 'real Americans' once a newer group arrives
Freeman traces how each immigrant group transitions from 'dangerous outsider' to 'real American' as the next wave arrives. Irish Americans who faced 'No Irish Need Apply' signs became the enforcers of anti-Italian discrimination.