Nearly 86 million Americans are immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants. Though many authors have looked at how America changes immigrants, Nancy Foner focuses more on how immigrants have changed America. She reminds us that immigration has long had an important influence on American culture.

Today the advantages of immigration continue: rejuvenating our urban centers as well as some rural communities, strengthening the economy, fueling the growth of old industries, spurring the formation of new ones, and refining how Americans perceive race, all while playing a pivotal role in reshaping electoral politics and party alignments. Immigrants affect virtually every facet of American culture, from the music we dance to and the food we eat to the films we watch and the books we read.

The impact of immigrants over the past half century has become so much a part of everyday life in America that we sometimes fail to see it. Foner makes sure we don't forget all the positive ways in which immigrants continue to change our country.

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

NOTES

MLF: Humanities

Speaker photo courtesy of the speaker; main image: Detail from book cover, One Quarter of the Nation.