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America for Americans : a history of xenophobia in the United States / Erika Lee.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : Basic Books, 2019Copyright date: ©2019Edition: First editionDescription: vii, 416 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781541672604
  • 1541672607
Subject(s):
Contents:
"Strangers to our language and constitutions" -- "Americans must rule America" -- "The Chinese are no more" -- The "inferior races" of Europe -- "Getting rid of the Mexicans" -- "Military necessity" -- Xenophobia and civil rights -- "Save our state" -- Islamophobia.
Summary: "The United States is known as a nation of immigrants. But it is also a nation of xenophobia. In [this book], acclaimed historian Erika Lee shows that an irrational fear, hatred, and hostility toward immigrants has been a defining feature of our nation from the colonial era to the Trump era. Americans have been wary of almost every group of foreigners that has come to the United States. Benjamin Franklin ridiculed German immigrants for their 'strange and foreign ways.' Americans' anxiety over Irish Catholics turned xenophobia into a national political movement in the 1850s. Over the century that followed, Chinese immigrants were excluded, Japanese incarcerated, and Mexicans deported. Today, Americans fear Muslims, Central Americans, and the so-called browning of America. Xenophobia has not been an exception to America's immigration tradition, an episodic aberration on an inevitable march toward inclusion. It is, in fact, Lee argues, an American tradition in its own right, deeply embedded in our society, economy, and politics, Forcing us to confront this history, [this book] explains how xenophobia works, why it has endured, and how it threatens us all. It is a necessary corrective and spur to action for any concerned citizen."--Dust jacket.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 305.8009 L477 Available 33111009559119
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This definitive history of American xenophobia is "essential reading for anyone who wants to build a more inclusive society" (Ibram X. Kendi, New York Times -bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist )



The United States is known as a nation of immigrants. But it is also a nation of xenophobia. In America for Americans , Erika Lee shows that an irrational fear, hatred, and hostility toward immigrants has been a defining feature of our nation from the colonial era to the Trump era. Benjamin Franklin ridiculed Germans for their "strange and foreign ways." Americans' anxiety over Irish Catholics turned xenophobia into a national political movement. Chinese immigrants were excluded, Japanese incarcerated, and Mexicans deported.



Today, Americans fear Muslims, Latinos, and the so-called browning of America. Forcing us to confront this history, Lee explains how xenophobia works, why it has endured, and how it threatens America. Now updated with an afterword reflecting on how the coronavirus pandemic turbocharged xenophobia, America for Americans is an urgent spur to action for any concerned citizen.

"The United States is known as a nation of immigrants. But it is also a nation of xenophobia. In [this book], acclaimed historian Erika Lee shows that an irrational fear, hatred, and hostility toward immigrants has been a defining feature of our nation from the colonial era to the Trump era. Americans have been wary of almost every group of foreigners that has come to the United States. Benjamin Franklin ridiculed German immigrants for their 'strange and foreign ways.' Americans' anxiety over Irish Catholics turned xenophobia into a national political movement in the 1850s. Over the century that followed, Chinese immigrants were excluded, Japanese incarcerated, and Mexicans deported. Today, Americans fear Muslims, Central Americans, and the so-called browning of America. Xenophobia has not been an exception to America's immigration tradition, an episodic aberration on an inevitable march toward inclusion. It is, in fact, Lee argues, an American tradition in its own right, deeply embedded in our society, economy, and politics, Forcing us to confront this history, [this book] explains how xenophobia works, why it has endured, and how it threatens us all. It is a necessary corrective and spur to action for any concerned citizen."--Dust jacket.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 347-395) and index.

"Strangers to our language and constitutions" -- "Americans must rule America" -- "The Chinese are no more" -- The "inferior races" of Europe -- "Getting rid of the Mexicans" -- "Military necessity" -- Xenophobia and civil rights -- "Save our state" -- Islamophobia.

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