America for Americans

Overview

The definitive history of American xenophobia  "A sweeping record of xenophobia in the U.S., highlighting the different ways minority groups have been humiliated, discriminated against and even deported."—Time 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.

Details

Publisher

Basic Books

Published

2019-11-26

Pages

432

Language

EN

Categories

History / United States / General, Social Science / Emigration & Immigration, Social Science / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / American / Hispanic & Latino Studies, Social Science / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / American / Asian American & Pacific Islander Studies, History / United States / 19th Century

ISBN-13

9781541672598