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From Ellis Island to JFK: New York's Two Great Waves of Immigration
Contributor(s): Foner, Nancy (Author)
ISBN: 0300093217     ISBN-13: 9780300093216
Publisher: Yale University Press
OUR PRICE:   $32.67  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: January 2002
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Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Annotation: 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, the first in-depth comparison of New York's two most recent immigration eras, reassesses the myths that surround both sets of immigrants.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States - State & Local - General
- Social Science | Emigration & Immigration
Dewey: 974.710
LCCN: 00026933
Physical Information: 0.78" H x 6.14" W x 9.34" (1.08 lbs) 352 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - Mid-Atlantic
- Geographic Orientation - New York
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
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--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.