The 1980 Census introduced a radical change in the measurement of ethnicity by gathering information on ancestry for all respondents, regardless of how long ago their forebears migrated to America, and by allowing respondents of mixed background to list more than one ancestry. The result, presented for the first time in this important study, is a unique and sometimes startling picture of the nation's ethnic makeup. From Many Strands focuses on each of the sixteen principal European ethnic groups, as well as on major non-European groups such as blacks and Hispanics. The authors describe differences and similarities across a range of dimensions, including regional distribution, income, marriage patterns, and education. While some findings lend support to the "melting pot" theory of assimilation (levels of educational attainment have become more comparable and ingroup marriage is declining), other findings suggest the persistence of pluralism (settlement patterns resist change and some current occupational patterns date from the turn of the century). In these contradictions, and in the striking number of respondents who report no ethnic background or report it incorrectly, Lieberson and Waters find evidence of considerable ethnic flux and uncover the growing presence of a new, "unhyphenated American" ethnic strand in the fabric of national life. A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation Census Series

A career-spanning anthology of essays on politics and culture by the best-selling author of The Flamethrowers includes entries discussing a Palestinian refugee camp, an illegal Baja Peninsula motorcycle race, and the 1970s Fiat factory wildcat strikes.

In the conclusion of the Strand Novels, Natil, now living in modern Denver, must guide a small group of humans with elven blood toward their true destiny The powers of the Elves have lain dormant for half a millennium, but the immortal bloodlines are very much alive. In present-day Denver, sixteen people have felt their elven heritage stirring, their abilities as healers and seers manifesting and blossoming, and Natil, through unimaginable favor and grace brought forward in time, is there to shepherd them through their transformation. Told through interweaving narratives, Strands of Sunlight is the story of the reborn Elves, as well as that of TK, a troubled Vietnam veteran embroiled in a conflict with local drug dealers; Sandy Joy, a college student caught in the manipulative wiles of a fraudulent instructor; and Natil herself, struggling to bring about the final awakening of the elven blood. Strands of Sunlight is the final book of the Strand Novels. More about the Elves can be found in the story collection Spires of Spirit.