Issues in U.S. Immigration

Issues in U.S. ImmigrationDesigned for and written to be understood by high school students and college undergraduates, Immigration in U.S. History offers a clear and innovative approach to immigration history that can also be used by advanced students and scholars.

Of the many themes that characterize U.S. history, immigration is one of the most constant and most pervasive. Since the first European and African immigrants began arriving in North America during the early seventeenth century, immigrants have steadily poured into what is now the United States. During the early twenty-first century, that flow has continued unabated--the major difference being that most immigrants now come from Latin America--especially Mexico and Central America--and Asia.

Of the 281,421,056 residents of the nation counted by the U.S. Census in 2000, nearly 99 percent traced their ancestry to immigrants who arrived here within in the past four centuries. Moreover, even Native Americans--who make up the remainder--can trace their ancestry to immigrants who came thousands of years earlier. The United States is, indeed, a nation of immigrants.

Because the United States is a nation of immigrants, it is obvious that most of the contributions to the building of the country have been made by immigrants and their descendants. Nevertheless, immigration has long been a subject of debate--and now more than ever, as Americans are increasingly feeling their security threatened by the constant flow of foreigners into the country.

Immigration in U.S. History examines the many issues surrounding immigration--from the earliest settlement of British North America in the seventeenth century through the immediate aftermath of the of September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks of the twenty-first century. It also places special emphasis on the many ethnic communities that have provided American immigrants.

Each of the alphabetically arranged articles in Issues in U.S. Immigration opens with the type of ready-reference top matter for which Salem Press's reference works are well known. The first entry following every title is a brief passage that defines or identifies the article's subject. Articles on such subjects as events, court cases, organizations, and laws have additional entries that provide dates and places, as relevant. The next item in every article is a brief italicized statement summarizing its subject's significance. Readers can thus see the most essential information about every topic at a glance.

Issues in U.S. Immigration offers several features to help readers find the information they need. The first and most obvious feature is the alphabetical arrangement of the essays, whose titles are worded to facilitate to make finding topics as straightforward as possible. Readers may either go directly to the articles they seek or look for them in the complete list of contents that can found at the front of each volume. Readers who cannot find what they need in the article titles will find substantial additional help in the set's detailed indexes of court cases, laws and treaties, personages, and general subjects at the end of volume 2. Volume 2 also has a Categorized List of Topics that should help readers who are uncertain under what headings they should look. Finally, every article is followed by a list of cross-references to other articles on closely related subjects. Readers are encouraged to follow the paths that these cross-references provide.