AMERICAN IMMIGRATION

Beginning with the arrival of the continent’s first Indigenous inhabitants and ending with events following the 2016 election, this book chronicles the social, cultural, and political trends that have shaped the United States’ historically fraught relationship with immigration.

Krull contextualizes important pieces of legislation such as the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, tracing how everything from labor demands to world wars shaped American attitudes toward newcomers. The text is peppered with profiles of immigrants, ranging from the children onboard the Mayflower to cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who immigrated to the States from China via France, and Apple founder Steve Jobs, whose birth father and adoptive mother were both immigrants. Laudably, Krull categorically dismisses the classification of slaves as immigrants, and she frankly recounts the genocide of Native Americans. Too often, though, Krull approaches immigration from a deficit mentality. For example, she characterizes immigrants who are learning English as poor performers in school rather than framing them as bilingual; uncritically recounts America’s openness to “any able-bodied immigrant”; and praises the fact that ”all” newcomers to America “have assimilated,” without acknowledging the cultural loss that entails. Most problematically, she asserts without any context that “it’s human nature to be suspicious of people different than us,” seemingly excusing the very xenophobia the book clearly wishes to fight.

This comprehensive take on American immigration history is strong on facts and weak on analysis.