Customer Reviews

Ethnic America

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There are so many biased books/papers/articles/documentaries on this subject which take some pre-defined viewpoint and attempt to make some moral statement. This book is the only source of information I've ever seen which basically looks at why various ethnic groups behave the way they do, without assumptions, without guilt, without dogma, and without political correctness. This is the kind of book someone might write 500 years from now after the emotions have subsided on the subject.

This book will show you a new way of thinking about race and culture in America, with many surprising facts and concepts.

I wish all books could be like this one. To be sure, Sowell does have an ideology of sorts (being a small 'l' libertarian) but the facts are legitimately objective. One gets facts and stats first and only later the concluding opinion.
Nowadays, it is easy to label any 'compartmentalized' ethnic history as racist. After all, we are all equal right? Sowell argues albeit indirectly that equality exists in a legal sense, but that ethnic groups have undeniable differences. Sowell does not present this as a positive or negative. It just is, and as with any generalization, there are numerous exceptions.
I'm Scottish and Irish. I guess if I was a modern liberal, I would've taken offense to his historical observation that the irish are unusually hot-tempered and have not through history put a huge value on education. The problem is that history shows it to be true. The liberal mistake is to think that a generalization of any kind must be taken personally (ie: because the irish through history have been hot-tempered and because I'm irish, Mr. Sowell must be implying that I have a bad temper.) Mr. Sowell means nothing of the kind. The beauty of equality under law is that generalizations do not apply. This is the problem with liberal policy. Affirmitive action and quotas are based on generalizations (something liberals say they avoid). The generalization is that minority group A can not succeed without the quota, or that all people save for minority group A, have a predisposition against minority group A.
So the beauty of this book lies in it's objectivity. Mr. Sowell shows history as it is. No idealism. No opinion on how things ought to be, disguised as fact. Simply a real glimpse at the history of ethnic America. Hooray for America!

This may well be the best book on American history which you will ever read. It doesn't delve into the politics of the times or discuss America's wars or its economics. What it does do is explore and examine the principal ethnic groups which immigrated to America and which now comprise the American scene. Each group is examined in turn and without prejudice starting with the Europeans (Irish, Germans, Jews, & Italians), going through the Asians (Chinese & Japanese) and Africans (Blacks), and concluding with the Latin Americans (Puerto Ricans & Mexicans). The history of each race or nationality is briefly outlined. The author then describes the status of the members of each group when they left for America, when they left, why they left, what their situation was upon their arrival, where they settled and why, and finally if and how they eventually managed to integrate themselves into the American way of life.

This then is the story of an America which the reader has probably never seen before. Through it the reader will likely learn much about America and its people and perhaps something about him/herself. He or she will also learn a myriad of little known facts about this great country we call home. For example: 1) that until 1651 slaves arriving in the colonies were treated as indentured servants and eventually became "free persons of color"; 2) that most intellectually prominent blacks in American history derived from this tiny group of "free persons of color;" 3) that the Irish and Chinese had a much harder time upon their arrival in America than did the slaves and were hired to perform work which was considered too dangerous for slaves (slaves were too valuable a property to put at risk); 4) that according to IRS records "slum lords" didn't make obscene profits at the expense of their tenants, but in most cases lost money (tenants often didn't pay their rent); 5) that Chinese didn't choose to go into the laundry business because they loved washing other people's dirty clothes but because no other avenues were open to them; 6) that the Japanese who were interned during WWII harbored no ill will but their grandchildren, who didn't experience the internment, did and do; 7) that Illegal alien Mexicans and some legal resident Mexicans have twice before been expatriated back to Mexico; and finally 8) that history repeats itself - only the races, religions, and ethnic groups change.

So, if you want to better understand and perhaps better appreciate your fellow Americans, here is your opportunity to walk in their shoes. I highly recommend it.

Mr. Sowell's in depth study of immigrant groups to america (Irish, Chinese, German, Italian, Puerto Rican, Black, and others) is as entertaining as it is insightful. Mr. Sowell attributes America's love with athletics to the arrival of waves of Germans in the 19th century- and their fondness of sport. Each immigrant groups succcess is traced as well as their contributions to the defining of what it means to be American. Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are not true immigrants but migrant workers, hence no improvement in their economic station. Blacks in America only moved out their rural condition in the South during World War II, and are making progress commensurate with immigrant groups after a generation. A great read and an enlightening study

This book was required reading for my undergraduate degree. It was probably one of the most interesting and informative books I read at the time and I've kept Sowell's book for more than 14 years! I found the journey for many who have immigrated to the USA facinating and I've learned so much more about their cultures from this one book. It has remained a staple on my bookshelf at work but today I noticed that it was missing (someone must have "borrowed" it). I am ordering another copy!

Distinguished Stanford University economist Thomas Sowell has written a spellbinding history of immigration to the United States of America; one deserving of wide readership now in light of renewed interest in this subject. It is an objective account replete with ample facts and figures, demonstrating the near universality of the American immigrant experience in the following ethnic groups: Irish, Germans, Jews, Italians, Chinese, Japanese, Blacks, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans. But there are also some important differences too which Sowell amply illustrates, most notably the very harsh treatment from native-born Americans which Irish and Chinese immigrants received when they began immigrating in large numbers during the mid 19th Century; he contends that the severe discrimination that these groups received was far worse than that experienced by others, including Blacks. Sowell argues persuasively for the importance - or, rather, in many instances, the lack thereof - placed on education as the key reason why some ethnic groups have thrived here in the United States, noting the economic success of many Americans of Chinese, Japanese and Jewish heritage (In the May 14, 2006 Week in Review section of The New York Times, New York Times reporter and columnist Nicholas Kristof also points to the importance of securing an excellent education as a major reason for current widespread academic success by Americans of Asian descent.). Sowell also notes the great disparity in economic fortunes of West Indian Blacks and those descended from North American mainland ancestors, observing that West Indians have emphasized the importance of education, which he contends does account for their own economic success.

Thomas Sowell's own life history is a personal microcosm of what he describes here in this book. Himself, a member of the West Indian community, Sowell dropped out of New York City's prestigious Stuyvesant High School, unable to keep up with this prominent high school's demanding, extremely rigorous, academic curriculum (He's one of only four prominent Stuyvesant alumni I know of who did not graduate; the others - actor James Cagney, musician Thelonius Monk, and Soviet/Russian television personality Vladimir Pozner - left for reasons unrelated to their own academic fortunes at Stuyvesant.). After serving in the United States Army and earning a GED high school degree, Sowell graduated from Harvard University and earned a Ph. D. in economics from the University of Chicago as a distinguished graduate student of another influential economist, Milton Friedman. In his own right, by virtue of his keen intellect, excellent scholarship and splendid writing, Thomas Sowell has become as important a public intellectual as social historian - and fellow notable Stuyvesant alumnus - Lewis Mumford was during the first half of the 20th Century.

I read "Ethnic America: A History" many years ago, when I was embarking on a graduate education emphasizing ecology and evolutionary biology. Had I read it earlier, it's possible that my subsequent educational path might have been steered towards the social sciences. I am delighted that this thoughtful, extremely well-written book is still in print and still worthy of the wide readership which it deserves. Anyone who is interested in the history of immigration to the United States of America - which, I hope, include all fellow Americans - should read "Ethnic America: A History".

Thomas Sowell is a genius. He tells us the stories in brief, easy to read chapters, filled with lots of interesting info. Goes straight to the point. Mr Sowell is the ideal teacher. And he is a pleasure to read. I am sure I have learnt more about Italians, Irish, Blacks, Jews, Germans and Mexicans in America than I could have by reading thousands of pages by other authors.

Thomas Sowell is the greatest mind in America.

Sowell does a really great job of detailing various different groups of people that have come to our country and whey they have done so. This is continued bu discussing their lives after they start to live here. It seems that Sowell covers a lot of the big groupsl like Africans, Germans, Italians, Japanese, Puero Ricans, Mexicans and Jews. Such a book is important because it helps us to understand our shared background as Americans. There are similirities why our ancestors came here as well as prejudice and discrimination faced by all at one time or another. It gives hope for the future because through history that groups become more accepted in society as time passes and groups become part of the melting part.

As a genealogist interested in immigration and migration patterns, I've previously read "Albion's Seed." I found "Ethnic America" to be even more interesting. This well-researched and well-documented book should be required reading in America's high schools.

Good review of the HISTORY of ethnic America, but a lot of this 20 year-old information is simply no longer valid - primarily stuff about the Mexicans.

It was also somewhat of a slow read at times with a little repetition. It was different from a lot of his other books in that this one was not political at all. I really can't recall him making any of his vehement arguments on social policy like he does in some of his other books.

Overall, it is another well-researched Sowell masterpiece that anyone interested in the interaction of different races, cultures, beliefs, and histories of the different ethnic groups that make up the American melting pot should read.