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One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965
Maybe someday
41
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
65/100Critics
17/100Scholars
Author:
Jia Lynn Yang
Publisher:
W. W. Norton Company
Date:
May 19, 2020
A sweeping history of the twentieth-century battle to reform American immigration laws that set the stage for todayâs roiling debates.
What The Reviewers Say
Because hers is a quasi-morality tale of the victory of tolerant reformers over bigoted obstructionists, Yang detours around the central irony in her historical account: that two of the most significant provisions of the 1965 act, the opening of doors to Asian immigrants (including her father) and the closing of them, through the imposition of quotas, to Latin Americans, principally Mexicans, were not part of the reformers’ agenda during the 40-year 'epic struggle' that is the subject of her book.
... readable and at times enthralling.
Jia Lynn Yang pans wide across the often overlooked 40-year battle to overhaul racist and restrictive immigration laws passed in the early 20th century.
This is very much a journalist’s account. Ms. Yang is disturbed to learn that, until very recently, many prominent Americans held views on race, nationality and an ideal social order that we now consider distasteful. And while she is wise to confine her timeline to the past century, the history is imparted through the stories of political participants whose lives are now mostly forgotten or altogether too well known: John, Robert and Edward Kennedy. This can get a little tedious at times.
