A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America

According to the national mythology, the United States has long opened its doors to people from across the globe, providing a port in a storm and opportunity for any who seek it. Yet the history of immigration to the United States is far different. Even before the xenophobic reaction against European and Asian immigrants in the late 19th Century, social and economic interest groups worked to manipulate immigration policy to serve their needs. In "A Nation by Design", Aristide Zolberg explores American immigration policy, from the colonial period to the present, discussing how it has been used as a tool of nation building. "A Nation by Design" argues that the engineering of immigration policy has been prevalent since early American history. However, it has gone largely unnoticed since it took place primarily on the local and state levels, owing to constitutional limits on federal power during the slavery era. Zolberg profiles the vacillating currents of opinion on immigration throughout American history, examining separately the roles played by business interests, labour unions, ethnic lobbies and nativist ideologues in shaping policy. He then examines how three different types of migration - legal migration, illegal migration to fill low-wage jobs, and asylum-seeking - are shaping contemporary arguments over immigration to the United States. "A Nation by Design" is a thorough, authoritative account of American immigration history and the political and social factors that brought it about. With rich detail and impeccable scholarship, Zolberg's book shows how America has struggled to shape the immigration process to construct the kind of population it desires.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. From Empire to Republic 3. An Acquisitive Upstart 4. The American System 5. Tocqueville's Footnote 6. Seward's Other Follies 7. "An Intelligent and Effective Restriction" 8. A Nation Like the Others 9. The Ambiguitites of Reform 10. The Elusive Quest of Coherence 11. Why the Gates Were not Shut Conclusion: Natural Design in a Globalizing World Appendix: Immigration Graphs Notes Index

About the Author :
Aristide R. Zolberg is Walter Eberstadt Professor of Political Science at the New School for Social Research.

Review :
If you want to understand why the politics of immigration take the form they do, read Aristide R. Zolberg's richly informative book immediately...We now have in our hands a book so thoughtful, so extensively researched, and so balanced in its conclusions that if it does not inform both the current debate and the ones sure to follow, the debate is bound to be poorer even than it already is. -- Alan Wolfe New Republic 20060508 Aristide Zolberg's A Nation by Design, offers the most comprehensive treatment of US immigration policy ever undertaken and is a major piece of scholarship that will prove indispensable to researchers for years to come. This achievement is no mean feat given the range of historical, political, economic, and sociological analyses of US immigration. What sets Zolberg's treatment apart is its unique historical depth and its realization of the importance of policies and practices other than those officially enacted by Congress--the focus of most earlier historical work on immigration policy...In many ways, immigration is America's never-ending debate. As Zolberg clearly shows, at every point in the history of the nation, from its inception as a dream among idealistic and free-thinking colonists to the present war on terrorism, immigration has figured prominently in debates about who us an American and what it means to be a citizen and resident of the United States. Over the course of US history, attacks on immigrants have waxed and waned, yet in the long run American society has incorporated an ever-widening array of peoples and nationalities into the national franchise. What distinguishes the current wave of anti-immigrant agitation from its predecessors is not its demonizing of foreigners or its harsh treatment of noncitizens, but its clever use of the fear of foreigners to launch a broader assault on the civil liberties not just of immigrants, but of all Americans. -- Douglas S. Massey Population and Development Review 20060901 This is the book with which all of us working in the sphere will now have to measure up against. -- Kristofer Allersfeldt History 20070101 Aristide R. Zolberg's A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America is an extraordinary achievement. In its sweep, erudition, conceptual precision, and analytic acuity, it may be the most important book on the history of immigration policy published in twenty-five years...One can find no better book than his to understand the role of immigration and immigration policy in the making of America. -- Gary Gerstle Dissent 20070101 A brief review cannot highlight the insights and arresting observations peppered throughout every chapter of A Nation by Design...in this hyper-charged political climate Zolberg has provided a singular service. A Nation by Design is both an awesome work of scholarship and an indispensable source for understanding the seamy and complicated ancestry of America's current politics of immigration. -- Michael B. Katz Journal of Social History 20080322