A Nation by Design

Reviews / Votes

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