A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story

by Tom Gjelten

“An incisive look at immigration, assimilation, and national identity” (Kirkus Reviews) and the landmark immigration law that transformed the face of the nation more than fifty years ago, as told through the stories of immigrant families in one suburban county in Virginia.

In the years since the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, the foreign-born population of the United States has tripled. Americans today are vastly more diverse than ever. They look different, speak different languages, practice different religions, eat different foods, and enjoy different cultures.

In 1950, Fairfax County, Virginia, was ninety percent white, ten percent African-American, with a little more than one hundred families who were “other.” Currently the Anglo white population is less than fifty percent, and there are families of Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and Latin American origin living all over the county. “In A Nation of Nations, National Public Radio correspondent Tom Gjelten brings these changes to life” (The Wall Street Journal), following a few immigrants to Fairfax County over recent decades as they gradually “Americanize.” Hailing from Korea, Bolivia, and Libya, the families included illustrate common immigrant themes: friction between minorities, economic competition and entrepreneurship, and racial and cultural stereotyping.

It’s been half a century since the Immigration and Nationality Act changed the landscape of America, and no book has assessed the impact or importance of this law as A Nation of Nations. With these “powerful human stories…Gjelten has produced a compelling and informative account of the impact of the 1965 reforms, one that is indispensable reading at a time when anti-immigrant demagoguery has again found its way onto the main stage of political discourse” (The Washington Post).

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, American History, Sociology, Law, Cultural Studies

424 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2015

Reviews

[Pratik · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there is one law that can be credited with my presence in the United States and subsequently meeting my wife, my marriage, and the birth of our son, it would be the 1965 Immigration Act. The Act abolished national quotas that heavily favored Europeans and kept Asians immigrants from moving to America. Gjelten weaves the story of several immigrants' and their children's arduous journey of legally immigrating to the U.S. with the political background of welcoming immigrants of a 'different kind'. We're shown with examples through the years of history that bigotry is as American as apple pie but that hasn't prevented the equally strong pushback against such actions that inherently undermine the country's ideal.

The book is timely in the context of the immigration debates and the fearmongering amongst the conservatives toward immigrants who have nothing but hard work and entrepreneurship to offer. Perhaps the book would've been and will continue to be timely no matter the year it was published in. Gjelten convinces you that change is slow and hard but eventually will bend toward justice even though it may seem totally improbable at the time. John F. Kennedy's role in prioritizing the 1965 Act was pivotal but even more important was his brother, Edward Kennedy who was truly the 'lion' in the debate leading up to the passage. Ultimately what worked for the Act was its unintended consequences because if they were known at the time, it would've never passed and kept America a predominantly white country and perhaps robbed of its competitive edge that now keeps it two steps ahead of the rest of the world.

Gjelten concludes with the backlash toward Muslims in wake of the 9/11 attacks and details the profound effect it had on people who had been living peacefully as citizens for many years. It shows that hatred can easily be preached and is often run counter to what you want to achieve.

Perhaps Gjelten could've included an Indian story as one of the anecdotes considering the high proportion of Indians moving to America compared to any other nationality. In delving into the Indian experience, he may have discovered that for Indians, the legal immigration continues to be a nightmare enough to make us cagey about our existence in this country. We're one bureaucratic mishap away from having our entire life torn apart. There is much work to be done in terms of legal immigration and unfortunately certain sections of the population that were earlier in support of welcoming immigrants are now the fearmongers. Forgive them for they know not what their country needs.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to whoever is interested in the nuances of immigration debate. Sometimes you've to know how the sausage is made.

[Matthew Sun · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4.5/5 rounded up)

It's hard for me to articulate how much this book matters to me. I grew up in Fairfax County as the child of immigrants from Hong Kong and China, but I never really formed much of an attachment to the place I grew up - that is, until reading this book, which is propelled by sometimes-intersecting stories about immigrants in Fairfax. Partly because I am overly neurotic and partly because I have never really felt like the ideal all-American boy nor totally aligned with the Chinese diaspora community in my hometown, I harbored the vague, uneasy feeling that no one besides my parents really wanted me around, so to speak. I focused all of my energy on school as a way to make my parents happy and also "earn" my way into a form of community recognition from my peers and teachers. I didn't really get to know my hometown at all (I spent much of my time in extracurriculars or studying), and I wasn't really interested in local history, thinking that much of it was probably just Confederate stuff (which wasn't totally wrong).

Reading this book, I have become a lot more appreciative of just how special the northern Virginia area is, and what a transformation it has undergone since the passage of Hart-Celler in 1965. The stories of the many different immigrant communities and their remarkable adaptation and resilience under adversity in this book is nothing short of inspiring, and seeing the mark they have left on the institutions of Fairfax County, the names of which I recognized but had no context for until now, helped me form a deeper pride that I live here. (Someone I was acquainted with in high school is actually mentioned in the book - her father is one of the key characters whose story unfurls throughout the narrative!) I'm also starting to realize how incredibly lucky I was to grow up somewhere where such a large percentage of the community was made of immigrants - sure, I felt out of place at times in NoVA, but that feeling probably would have been a hundred times worse if I had been the only Asian kid at my school. This book has also helped me realize that many of the difficult experiences my family members and I suffered in private were actually totally normal among immigrants and their children, across the past fifty years or so when Fairfax started to become a destination for non-European immigrants. (As a sidenote, I have to say the format of the book is my absolute favorite kind - solid historical information that is buttressed and made more compelling through a deep attention to the human aspect of politics and the stories of families and individuals affected by the decisions made by those at the top.)

Of course, no book is perfect. I'm taking off half a star for some generalizations throughout the book that felt inaccurate; for example, the author repeatedly refers to "Confucian values" to (partially) explain the educational success of various Asian immigrant groups. I can't speak for all the countries of Asia, of course, but I think that the emphasis my mother placed on education was much more directly related to the the reinstatement of the gaokao (the Chinese college entrance exam) after the Cultural Revolution and the national significance of education in China as a pathway out of poverty. (My father, from Hong Kong, never really placed a strong emphasis on education.) I'm sure the author was limited by time and space, but I still wish he had delved more deeply into the specific histories of the various immigrant groups to explain trends in behavior and cultural values. I also would've liked to see more attention or analysis on class differences within immigrant communities. For example, what are the tensions & connections between working-class and wealthier immigrant families from the same or different countries of origin?

All in all, a fantastic book that has an outsize personal meaning for me and also provides a good deal of hope that the fears that many Americans have about immigrants are largely unfounded. After all, just look at the town where I grew up - you can read all about it. :)

[Bookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good content, terrible structure. I spotted this at a book fair not long after it came out and it seemed like a great pickup to read, especially given the current events of the day. I thought it would be a good book to read after 'The Making of Asian-America' except a much broader overview of immigration in the US. Unfortunately that isn't quite what this turned out to be.
 
While this book's focus was obviously very different, it also wasn't quite what I expected. Author Gjelten focuses on US immigration in the context of the 1965 Immigration Act and  how that affected how people came to the US and allowing a demographic shift. Previously immigrants who were from Western and Northern Europe were favored, and just a few days ago from this writing it was reported Asians may surpass Hispanics as the largest group of immigrants in the US population.
 
So the book looks at the story of families: from Korea, from Libya, from Bolivia and El Salvador. They have their own reasons for leaving, they own reasons for wanting to come to the US and hope for a better life. Their arrival, adjustment, "Americanization" and what they do is traced though the book, along with the history of the Immigration Act.
 
Unfortunately, the structure of the book is terrible. Gjelten is at his strongest when he discusses the stories of the families and people who left their old lives and countries behind. But he keeps alternating between the families in different chapters, drops them for a part to discuss the history, and then returns to the alternating POV. And the historical recounting of IA was bone dry. Normally I enjoy reading up on how legislation came to pass, but something about the section was unbelievably frustrating to read. It almost seemed like someone else had written this part.
 
The book shifting back to the families and the immigrants seemed like a jolt and not something I really cared for. I really enjoyed reading the first part and had high hopes that for once a book by a journalist wouldn't let me down. I was wrong. It's great content and important to know. Unfortunately it probably won't change any minds, but it would be a beneficial read for perspective.
 
I wouldn't rush out to read it. Borrow from the library.

[Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s rather lengthy and overly anecdotal for the relatively mundane points the author offers, but I still learned a lot reading this. Kind of wish he leaned more into the Fairfax County aspect. Prose is decent.

[Gabriel Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is different sort of review than most and different than I've ever done before.

I actually won't be doing much of a review as much as a psychological and ideological assessment of myself using this book. It might sound like deconstructionist drivel, but I hope you can catch my meaning and understand what I am trying to say. This book actually taught me a lot, both with the objective material and how my subjective views influenced my reading. The reason why I will be doing this is because I can't review much of the objective content, that is the issues involving immigration, as I am not very familiar with the subject (hence why I read the book). I think it is important to detail much of subjective reactions and what I thought were issues worth addressing.

A brief summary of the book: Broken into four parts, the book details the history of the 1965 Immigration Act, interweaves personal stories from before the legislative to nearly present day, concluding in political debate over the consequences.

A brief review: I thought the book was overall pretty good. Some sections felt easier to read than others. It challenged me in others.

This leads me to my subjective analysis. When I embarked on my political research project over a year ago to become well informed, one of my main goals was to be as open as possible to different ideas and points of view. When reading this book, I felt I didn't live up to that goal. It is easy to maintain this goal when I read mostly conservative books and most of the authors share the same opinions and ideas, but this is one of the first liberal books I read (the author is a correspondent for National Public Radio, notably left-leaning, but both the author and NPR do try to offer objectivity) and it was actually good. When reading it at certain points, my conservative bias would influence my reading to the point that it made some of the reading sour. Instead of understanding and feeling sympathetic for some of the people described, I clung to my conservative tenets (this isn't to say conservativism is bad, the real issue was I was relying on others' conclusions about certain things and let it influence my reading instead of knowing and asking myself why I believed what I believed about the issue). The reason why I reflect on this and point a spotlight on this is because this is exactly the opposite I hoped to achieve with this reading. I wanted to read this to learn about the issue, to look at the facts and human aspect to understand what we as a country are dealing with and where I stand. It did not help that before reading this book, I had started watching a video on the subject arguing against continued immigration. Another issue that probably influenced my reading could be the modern American left has blurred the lines between legal and illegal immigrants so much that the argument isn't even about the legitimate questions of immigration anymore as its about deportation of illegal immigrants (I would argue the author, who I believe is left-leaning, actually deals with the subject of immigration very well) . Much of what I've seen from either side on this issue seems surface level, but that's because I've only just started the homework others have already done. What it all comes down to is, where does the evidence I found lead me? What do I personally think about the issue? Instead of running to pundits and waiting for their opinions, it is important to know what one believes oneself. Agreeing with their conclusion is fine, just as long as oneself knows why they believe what they believe and what supports their beliefs. And this can be applied to any field and any opinion, not just political issues. So in conclusion here is my brief outline of what I believe about immigration.

-America should understand how many immigrants it wants to take in a period of time and then prepare and legislate accordingly
-The country should be open to any and all immigrants who are willing to become American citizens and pledge their allegiance to the flag and the United States
-Illegal immigration is unacceptable and should not be tolerated further; some cases involving anchor babies and other such issues should be considered and dealt with differently than criminals and aliens who have no desire to become legal citizens.

There is my opinion so far. I hope whoever reads this finds something useful or interesting they can take away from this review.

[Kevin Hu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gjelten offers an overview at why the 1965 Immigration Law came to become the law of the land through critical circumstances in a changing American landscape. The window in which the American imagination of immigrant integration was ever so minuscule during this tumultuous time of advanced Civil Rights, post-World War II, pre-Cold War era, when Eastern European immigrants were finally being championed due to the unprecedented win and success of JFK (and success of all the Kennedys for that matter).

I appreciate the inside look at a diverse spectrum of immigrant stories highlighted by Gjelten and his journalistic approach in tracking the entirety of each individual family's immigrant stories from one generation to the next, while pausing to provide snapshots of their changing landscape that shaped their social, cultural, and political identities. The immigrant identity is truly an identity in its own rite, even apart from both ethnic and national identities.

What took away from the biographical basis of his survey of American immigration was that the sample size were all contained within Fairfax County, which severely neglects the immigration experiences and 1965 Immigration Law effects on other immigrant frontiers post-1965. This omission, I believe, in some ways disqualify some of the conclusions from being completely representative of an 'American' story despite how much I do see other immigrant stories mirroring some of the accounts described. Apart from that, I do believe there were some significantly brilliant gems in the book overall.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is interesting as an analysis of immigration in America, but is a bit of hot mess, trying to take on too much.

I really liked Gjelten's take on the subject of the 1965 Immigration law and the way America's policy moved away from white supremacy driving immigration policy. He mixes discussions of policy with stories from the lives of a handful of immigrants. The discussion of these immigrant's stories is the most interesting part of the book, though I enjoyed the policy discussions as well.

The problem with this book is that it takes on this huge topic, and it never really coheres. This book is trying to be three or four separate books all at once. The multiple narratives, never really gel into a single thing. Gjelten never really makes the story of policy and politics does not feel that related to the stories of these individuals. Furthermore, Gjelten has a tendency to go off on tangents. He talks a lot about the history of Fairfax County, VA, sometimes to the point where he gets away from its role in immigration. And he has a long discussion of the terrorism and the stories of Muslim American's after 2001.

Of course, these threads are both connected to immigration, but he does a poor job of tying them into that story. If I could critique him for one thing, it is that I do not hthink that he could have told me what the thesis of the book was. I don't hink he could have told me, in one sentence, what he was writing about.

He has other issues as well. Gjelten is a journalist, meaning he knows a little about a lot of things but not a lot about anything. And that comes through when he tries to write about these cultures he knows little about. At one point, he says a Korean grandmother was trying to inculcate Confucian values by having her grandson to worship at a Buddhist shrine. Little things like this marred Gjelten's analysis.

Overall, structure was the biggest problem of this book, but I also wonder about Gjelten's conclusions. In the end of this 2015 book, he never comes out and says it, but his conclusion is that immigrants are making America better, but also they are making America a politically tougher place to continue. Though Gjelten is hardly the only observer to miss the rising power of anti-immigrant politics in 2015 and 2016, this book still seems to have completely missed an important part of the discussion Gjelten was trying to engender.

Nation of Nations is multiple good books trying to pretend to be a single book, and this incohesion detracts from it. But overall, it was still worth the read.

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The 1965 Act committed the United States for the first time in its history to accept newcomers on a nondiscriminatory basis, and the expanded allocation of family visas made it easier for foreigners to qualify for U.S. residents status."

"Just as immigrants adapt to life in America, the American nation incorporates some of the cultural elements the immigrants bring with them. With nine out of ten coming from a non-European background, the idea that America is essentially a European country becomes progressively harder to maintain."

"By 2010, the foreign-born portion of the U.S. population on average were more enterprising and less likely to be unemployed than the native-born, even though they were poorer. (census data consistently showed immigrants with marginally higher rates of entrepreneurship, self-employment, and labor force participation than native-born workers.)"

"They did not have other immediately marketable skills, and they did not speak English. Their assets were discipline, a disposition to work hard and sacrifice, and a willingness to take initiative."

"Bringing identities from different worlds into a coherent whole is a life challenge for virtually every American born outside the United States or even to immigrant parents."

"You learn not to be limited by what others might think of you. It's the knowledge that you can go further if you constantly work at it...If for whatever reason you're not in position to take that high road, it can be very hard to have a healthy experience as an immigrant, because so much depends on the opportunities that come your way." Esam Omeish

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed this book. It is interesting and informative and does an excellent job of combining so many different disciplines. A Nation of Nation explores history, sociology, politics, personal narrative, urban planning -- so many different topics that all come together and influence each other, making the US the nation it is today. Though the scope of the book encompasses the country as a whole, much of the story revolves around individuals, both great and small, who inhabit Fairfax County, Virginia, a suburb of Washington D.C. Tom Gjelten does an excellent job interweaving the personal with the public, illustrating the human element of immigration and the battles that have surrounded it. I don't know what parts I enjoyed more. I loved the biographic tales of the varied individuals, finding their struggles and aspirations truly inspirational and compelling. I also really appreciated the clear overviews of past public policies and the explanations of why they came to be and what they achieved - either on purpose or accidentally. Unexpected topics, such as the investigations into 9/11 and the Boston bombers were also handled in a clear, educational and impactful manner. Living in Fairfax County, I found A Nation of Nations even more compelling. Be you neighbor or no, I highly recommend A Nation of Nations, no matter where you live.

[Drew Meisel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Nation of Nations tells a few testimonies and the history of immigration in the United States over the course of its history. It does a good job speaking on policies even if it’s not always the most exciting bit to read. I love the personal testimonies, but I also thought they were spread throughout the story in an odd way. I wish more stories were told throughout this book as well. For instance, very little mention was done for Japanese American Immigrants despite the consequences of WWII. In the end, I wish it had gone more in debt with the personal stories and a lot less so with the history of policies and such, but that’s just personal preference. I also thought that it doesn’t do a great service of seeing some of the negative consequences that immigration can cause, and only looked at the positive ones. They seemed to push the position that people with concerns around immigration are racist and cruel, rather than taking a more neutral stance. If this book had a better structure to it and the chapters were spread out a bit better, it would have gotten four stars, but as it stands I give it a three. Anyone interested in a basic understanding of USA immigration would like this book.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book that helpfully, and in great but not overwhelming detail, lays out the history of immigration law in the United States over the past 200+ years, and situates it in the context of shifting political and cultural opinions as well as the legal underpinnings of the nation. Bits of history that I had heard here and there were presented in a more synthetic fashion here, and connected with a fascinating array of anecdotal stories related to immigrant families from around the world now living in Fairfax County, VA. Until reading the book, I hadn't been familiar with the recent anniversary (1965-2015) of landmark legislation on immigration reform, begun under President Kennedy and completed under President Johnson, that led to both the laudable diversity in our nation today and the minority prejudicial backlash against it that has surged into public view in the last two years. A very engaging read, one that I desire to ponder and discuss with others.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this books up on someone else's recommendation and then forgot it followed immigrant families from Fairfax by the time I was finally ready to read it. I was surprised that I knew of or personally knew some of the people written about in this work. I think the focus on Fairfax makes me see my own community and childhood with greater clarity.

That said, it felt a little disconnected with the sections following specific families drawing me in and then the segments of history jarringly moving me into a very different kind of narrative. For the Fairfax element alone, I'm glad to took the time to read A Nation of Nations because it taught me more about the greater community that raised me.

[Josué · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though at times a bit rocky in narrative cohesiveness, Gjelten manages to paint a compelling picture of the American immigrant story and illustrate how American immigration policy has a much longer and more complicated history than is often understood. By interweaving immigration policy history with personal immigrant stories, Gjelten creates a fair and humanizing narrative worth re-examining in the wake of ongoing immigration policy discussions.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly good, even-keeled book about immigration, both the history of immigration in America in the 20th century, and personal accounts of immigration in the Washington, DC metro area. Gjelten is a practiced journalist and shows both positives and negatives. My only complaint was that the book drags on too long at the end.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really useful information about laws and principles related to immigration in the United States. I could definitely relate to the family examples of actual immigrants in Fairfax county.

Slow read.

[Kathy Heare Watts]

I won a copy of this book during a Goodreads giveaway. I am under no obligation to leave a review or rating and do so voluntarily. I am paying it forward by passing this book along to a family member who I think will enjoy it too.

[Tammy Mannarino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of immigration in the US using Fairfax County for many examples through the years. We really live in an extraordinary County, an extraordinary Country! There is a lot of truth to the idea that if America could be summed up in one word, it would be Growth!

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are looking for chapter after chapter of pointless origin stories of random people who have family immigration stories, then this is the book for you. No analysis whatever by chapter 4 and I am out.

[Anna Kraft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super informative! A bit dry at times, but overall an easy and intriguing read.

[Jadyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ode to immigrants. Really appreciated learning about my own backyard, DC suburbs.

[Kathryn French · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is well worth reading. It is an impartial overview of US attitudes and laws about immigration m, both legal and illegal. It is engagingly written with many personal stories. I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get the feeling that most people would like this book more than I did. The reason most would like is also the reason why I was a bit annoyed by it. There is a method of writing – get a hook, and use it to bait the reader into the meat of what you want to talk about it. Rather than just leaving the thing a cold bunch of aggregate information, be able to tell the story of some specific individuals to humanize the points you want to make.

Well, this book has its hooks. But I fear it really overdoes it. There are so many human interest stories here that it’s often hard to remember what point is being made. That is especially the case in the opening sections. Gjelten starts off with several chapters – about 80 pages in length (almost one-fourth of the length of the book itself) that is just story after story after story – with no broader point made. Then he shifts gears completely and gives us a few chapters on the history of US immigration law, which includes some detailed information on the passage of the 1965 Immigration Act. Then it goes back to the stories, though now the stories are more tied to some point he’s making overall. Gjelten is an NPR correspondent and that training comes through here, but I really had trouble finding many overall points being made.

Safe to say, he’s a supporter of immigration. The main trend is that people are coming to this country to realize their hopes and the opponents to immigration overstate the problems for them and the nation by the rise of immigration. He focuses heavily on Fairfax County, Virginia, which is apparently one of the most diverse places in all the US – and a place where the diversity is working well. (At one point toward the end he belatedly notes this face: it helps that Fairfax if very affluent, which makes all the interaction a bit easier to take for everyone).

He’s got chapters on the issues facing Muslims, as they seem to be the most demonized group. He notes bad relations between immigrants and blacks in some cases (most notably in a section on the 1992 LA Riots). --- Actually, this brings up one criticism I can have of the book. For him, immigrants are Asians or Hispanic. There is no sense of black immigrants – and there are a lot now (I guess there just aren’t any in Fairfax County, Virginia). While there are real black-immigrants divisions, a growing chunk of the black community is also immigrant.

Gjelten brings up other factors as well, but it was hard to see much point in them. I mostly read like stories.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished tonight, and while further reflection may frequently cause slight changes (and sometimes significant changes) in opinion, this is a good book. There is nothing, for lack of better wording, spectacular about the book. But its a book about immigration and its history in the United States, and its impossible for a reader to come away from this book without being better informed and a broader awareness. One of the stronger writing points for the book is how it weaves individual and personal immigration stories into the broader context of the history being told. The author shares the stories and journeys of immigrants from Korea, Libya, and El Salvador, among others, and ties those stories to the overarching immigration history in the country, particularly in the 20th century and the culminating act of the 1965 Immigration Act.

An interesting reality to observe in the book is how the definition of "American" has involved in the immigration debate and thus, consequently, how the definition of outsiders have evolved. It used to be based purely on national origin - which was the basis of the quota system that existed in the early 20th century. Thus, there were limitations on people from Italy, and then from Eastern Europe, as the belief they would diminish the "stock" of true Americans. Yet now, that has evolved where people have decried that decreasing numbers of Americans with any European ancestry as a result of increased immigration from Asia and Latin America. I believe an underlying question in the book is whether America will adjust to the changing nature of the identity of its citizens, or if something less than exceptional will take place.

As a whole, the book also does a good job of discussing the challenges of immigration - not just from a tolerance and integration standpoint, but also how it impacts and has shaped economics and politics, particularly in the last 50 years. This is a timely book that is informative and well-written, and one interested in one of the hot-button issues of today would be well served to give this book a read.

[Anne Dunham · Rating 5 out of 5]

What timing! Published a year before the present tumultuous election, A Nation of Nations chronicles the recent centuriy's newcomers to America with vignettes of real people. To tag all people coming to our shores with the one word— “immigrant” is to vastly misunderstand the many human reasons people leave their homeland to venture into an unknown land with a new language often leaving family and/or friends behind. These are real stories of how they cope, live, work, and strive to make a new life. It is also a story of how their children adapt to new surroundings and new customs. The author does a commendable job of putting us in the shoes of families from Korea, Libya, Bolivia, and El Salvador who have settled in Fairfax County, Virginia, a microcosm of the entire country. The author acknowledges both the challenges and the benefits to our nation from this diversity. For all of us who call ourselves Americans and whose ancestors themselves settled in this new country, this is a wakeup call to help us understand the current challenges for both new and long-standing Americans.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent addition to the debate on immigration in America, which has reached a higher pitch and in my mind a cruel tone with the recent questions regarding Syrian refugees. I grew up in a neighborhood where most of my friends' grandparents were immigrants, and on my father's side I am no more than fourth generation, so I have always understood how difficult the immigrant experience really is and how much our country has always been enriched by their presence among us. Gjelten helps portray both these ideas while never glossing over the challenges of being "a nation of nations." I highly recommend this book and hope it helps us become a more courageously welcoming place.

[Jennifer Wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book taught me a lot more about immigration than I ever thought before! A lot of this book discusses immigration in Fairfax County, VA, in the 80s and 90s, which I especially appreciated since that is where and when I grew up. It really helped give me a more in depth perspective of families living and growing up in the USA that are from another country. If you’re interested in this topic, this book is a good one.

[Motaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight of the current immigration situation in the US, with nice anecdotal stories of immigrants who arrived in the US during the past 50 years and how they are faring.

Interesting background information about the civil rights movements and its interaction with newly arrived immigrant communities.

[Natalie Griffitts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take it for what it is: A journalist trying to write history. There are no citations so, as a historian, you'll be doing a lot of work to fact check. However, this provides great insight into the diversity of Northern Virginia and the reasons so many choose the area to migrate to. A fantastic and easy read that will blur the common man's definition of "refugee" and "immigrant".

[Michael R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reconceptualizing American exceptionalism to embrace immigration and transculturation, this veteran NPR correspondent offers a wide-ranging review of immigration debates and immigrants' stories since 1965.

[Alison Kuhlman · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5- A good overview of the 1965 immigration law and how it came into being. I wish it had gone more in depth in certain areas. But overall I enjoyed it, especially the stories of immigrants coming to the US and how they were woven together in Farifax county.