Ethnicities—Children of Immigrants in America

"Ethnicities is a timely and important book. Rumbaut and Portes have brought together a group of stimulating essays by leading scholars in immigration studies that deal with issues at the heart of debates about the new second generation. From Mexicans to Vietnamese and Haitians, the essays show how the children of immigrants in diverse groups are faring and, in different ways, "becoming American." This volume is sure to become a standard reference for future research in the field."--Nancy Foner, author of From Ellis Island to JFK: New York's Two Great Waves of Immigration

"The authors take the reader on an instructive cross country journey to understand the newest immigrants and their children. Ethnicities fills a big gap in the sociological portrait of today's American mosaic."--Herbert Gans, author of The War Against the Poor

"This pathbreaking book, rich in new data and incisive analyses, is the first to bring together a collection of studies of the second generation's diverse origins, pathways, and challenges. Ethnicities will spark many lively discussions among my students, many of whom belong to this brave new second generation."--Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, author of Domestica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence

"This tightly focused collection makes it clear that the children of immigrants are key to understanding the nation's new immigrant experience. It reveals contradictory trends among, for example, Haitians, Filipinos, Cubans, Vietnamese, and Mexicans, such as high praise for American society along with increased reports of discrimination. This book contributes significantly to major empirical and theoretical debates."--Rodolfo O. de la Garza, co-author of Making Americans, Remaking America

"Remarkably coherent, readable and insightful, this volume makes important contributions to theory, particularly in recasting the concept of assimilation. By combining survey data with interviews and historical background, Ethnicities (and its companion, Legacies) provides a wealth of information about the long-term effects of contemporary immigration--examining what happens to the second and subsequent generations. It is both an exciting and a disturbing book."--Bryan R. Roberts, author of The Making of Citizens: Cities of Peasants Revisited

Ruben G. Rumbaut is Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University. He is coauthor, with Alejandro Portes, of Immigrant America: A Portrait (California, 1996), and coeditor of Immigration Research for a New Century: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (2000) and Origins and Destinies: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in America (1996). Alejandro Portes is Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and Director of the Center for Migration and Development, Woodrow Wilson School for Public Affairs. He is the coauthor of City on the Edge: The Transformation of Miami (California, 1993) and Latin Journey: Cuban and Mexican Immigrants in the United States (California, 1985). Portes is the 2010 recipient of the W.E.B. Du Bois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award from the American Sociological Association.