Comprised mostly of memoirs with some fiction, this volume gathers selections from the writings of 85 immigrants from 45 countries that illustrate the changing views of immigrants in the United States.

Traces the history of American immigration from 1607 to the 1920s and looks at how groups of immigrants have adapted to the United States.

In the decades after the United States formally declared its independence in 1776, Americans struggled to gain recognition of their new republic and their rights as citizens. None had to fight harder than the nation’s seamen, whose labor took them far from home and deep into the Atlantic world. Citizen Sailors tells the story of how their efforts to become American at sea in the midst of war and revolution created the first national, racially inclusive model of United States citizenship. Nathan Perl-Rosenthal immerses us in sailors’ pursuit of safe passage through the ocean world during the turbulent age of revolution. Challenged by British press-gangs and French privateersmen, who considered them Britons and rejected their citizenship claims, American seamen demanded that the U.S. government take action to protect them. In response, federal leaders created a system of national identification documents for sailors and issued them to tens of thousands of mariners of all races—nearly a century before such credentials came into wider use. Citizenship for American sailors was strikingly ahead of its time: it marked the federal government’s most extensive foray into defining the boundaries of national belonging until the Civil War era, and the government’s most explicit recognition of black Americans’ equal membership as well. This remarkable system succeeded in safeguarding seafarers, but it fell victim to rising racism and nativism after 1815. Not until the twentieth century would the United States again embrace such an inclusive vision of American nationhood.

An illustrated guide to U.S. civics and history, perfect for students, aspiring citizens, and anyone looking to be a more informed American. The current political climate has left many of us wondering how the government actually operates. Sure, we learned about it in school, but if put to the test, how many of us could correctly explain the branches of the government? The history of politics and political activism? The differences and connections between local and federal government? Enter How to Be an American. When author and illustrator Silvia Hidalgo began to study for her citizenship test, she quickly found that the materials provided by the government were lacking. To more easily absorb the information, Hidalgo started her own illustrated reference to civics facts and American history essentials. She’s collected her findings in How to Be an American, a freshly designed and illustrated guide that will leave any reader a more savvy, informed citizen—or prepare them to take the citizenship test themselves.

Now in paperback -- "A compelling collection . . . providing insights into the variety of immigrant experiences." --Publishers Weekly Take part in an extraordinary journey through the lives of 23 first-generation immigrant women as they uncover their own unique experiences in the new world. In this remarkable collection of original essays, these acclaimed writers speak to issues of identity, ethnicity, and race, as well as how the self begins to take on and absorb the label "American." Some of the contributors in Becoming American include: Nina Barragan -- Argentina; Lilianet Brintrup -- Chile; Veronica Chambers -- Panama; Judith Ortiz Cofer -- Puerto Rico; Edwidge Danticat -- Haiti; Gabrielle Donnelly -- England; Lynn Freed -- South Africa; Akuyoe Graham -- Ghana; Lucy Grealy -- Ireland; Suheir Hammad -- Jordan/Palestine; Ginu Kamani -- India; Nola Kambanda -- Burundi/Rwanda; Helen Kim -- Korea; Kyoko Mori -- Japan; Irina Reyn -- Russia; Joyce Zonana -- Egypt

The author examines the paths South Asian immigrants in Chicago take toward assimilation in the late 20th century United States. She examines two ethnic institutions to show how immigrant activism ironically abets these immigrants' assimilation.

Since the 1960s the number of Indian immigrants and their descendants living in the United States has grown dramatically. During the same period, the make-up of this community has also changed—the highly educated professional elite who came to this country from the subcontinent in the 1960s has given way to a population encompassing many from the working and middle classes. In her fascinating account of Indian immigrants in New York City, Madhulika S. Khandelwal explores the ways in which their world has evolved over four decades.How did this highly diverse ethnic group form an identity and community? Drawing on her extensive interviews with immigrants, Khandelwal examines the transplanting of Indian culture onto the Manhattan and Queens landscapes. She considers festivals and media, food and dress, religious activities of followers of different faiths, work and class, gender and generational differences, and the emergence of a variety of associations.Khandelwal analyzes how this growing ethnic community has gradually become "more Indian," with a stronger religious focus, larger family networks, and increasingly traditional marriage patterns. She discusses as well the ways in which the American experience has altered the lives of her subjects.