Migrations And Cultures

“This is a lively and provocative book that is important reading for anyone who thinks we have too many immigrants or too few, who favors affirmative action and multicultural programs or opposes them… Deflates any windbag oratory about the United States being a unique land of opportunity, where migrants succeed by discarding their former culture and leaping naked into the great melting pot.”

“Sowell makes several observations about immigration important to the historical record and that remain relevant today.”

“Migrations and Cultures forcibly brings home the lesson that, although from the point of view of economic development there may be better and worse immigrant groups, it is misguided to talk of immigration itself in the abstract, as if it were always a good, or always a bad, thing…. Although Sowell himself is never deterministic on the subject, he shows throughout that because immigration is rooted in human nature, it is subject to its own set of eternal verities. Migrations and Cultures is deeply instructive in acquainting us with some of them.”

“Interesting insights abound in this study…. Sowell's treatment is so comprehensive and detailed, with a plethora of footnotes on almost every page, that his book will be of particular interest to specialists.”

“Thomas Sowell is not only one of the most prolific intellectuals writing today, he remains one of the most insightful…. Tracing the history of six migrant groups—Chinese, Japanese, Germans, Italians, Jews, and Indians—Sowell explains the contributions each has made to the countries where they settled or sojourned, enriching those nations in the process of helping themselves. While some social scientists battle endlessly over whether racism or race itself explains differences in achievement between groups, Sowell offers a more subtle and convincing argument for the importance of skills.”

“Thomas Sowell has done it again… This is a vital contribution to a debate that has been framed far too narrowly.”

“Thomas Sowell is one of the wonders of the American intellectual world…. Not only is this book crammed with detailed research that even experts will find instructive, but it is willing to look unflinchingly at evidence that suggests migration can be bad as well as good—and even that the era of mass migration may be drawing to a close.”