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America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States Kindle Edition

by Erika Lee (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 274 ratings
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This definitive history of American xenophobia is "essential reading for anyone who wants to build a more inclusive society" (Ibram X. Kendi, New York Times-bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist)

The United States is known as a nation of immigrants. But it is also a nation of xenophobia. In America for Americans, Erika Lee shows that an irrational fear, hatred, and hostility toward immigrants has been a defining feature of our nation from the colonial era to the Trump era. Benjamin Franklin ridiculed Germans for their "strange and foreign ways." Americans' anxiety over Irish Catholics turned xenophobia into a national political movement. Chinese immigrants were excluded, Japanese incarcerated, and Mexicans deported.

Today, Americans fear Muslims, Latinos, and the so-called browning of America. Forcing us to confront this history, Lee explains how xenophobia works, why it has endured, and how it threatens America. Now updated with an afterword reflecting on how the coronavirus pandemic turbocharged xenophobia, America for Americans is an urgent spur to action for any concerned citizen.
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  1. Print length
    482 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Basic Books
  5. Publication date
    November 26, 2019
  6. File size
    41955 KB
  7. Page Flip
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This sweeping account draws parallels between Benjamin Franklin's worry over 'swarthy' Germans 'herding together' in the eighteenth century and Donald Trump's race-baiting today. Xenophobia, Lee argues, has been an indelible 'American tradition,' deployed to social and political ends since the country's founding. A manifesto as much as a history, the book shows how every large immigrant group since Franklin's time—Irish, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Middle Eastern—was 'scripted' by populist demagogues as alien and threatening."―New Yorker

"Including everything from Chinese Exclusion to recent travel bans, America for Americans exposes the folly in arguments that position the U.S. as an eternally anti-racist society."―Bustle

"Lee persuasively expresses that current hostilities over national borders are no exception to the nation's history. This clearly organized and lucidly written book should be read by a wide audience."―Publishers Weekly

"A carefully constructed history of wide interest to students of American politics."―Kirkus

"Erika Lee wants us to remember that xenophobia has always been a troubling part of the American narrative. Lee offers a sweeping record of xenophobia in the U.S., highlighting the different ways minority groups have been humiliated, discriminated against and even deported."―Time

"As Erika Lee brilliantly shows, xenophobia has forever been an integral part of American racism. Forcing us to confront this history as we confront its present, America for Americans is essential reading for anyone who wants to build a more inclusive society."―Ibram X. Kendi, New York Times-bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist

"America for Americans is unflinching and powerful. Through extensive research and crystal clear prose, Erika Lee has masterfully tracked the phenomenon of xenophobia and its devastating effects on this nation's democracy and its people. Spurred on by unscrupulous politicians and key segments of the press, the cadence of fear, racism, and policy violence has rained down on immigrants since the colonial period and wreaked havoc on America's laws and claims of moral and human rights leadership. This is a must-read for all who need and want to understand how the 'leader of the free world' came to ban a religion, violate asylum laws, and lock babies in cages."―Carol Anderson, New York Times-bestselling author of White Rage

"Erika Lee's America for Americans is an insightful, thought-provoking book that helps us understand why the United States, a 'nation of immigrants,' could be the home to such longstanding and powerful anti-immigrant movements. Anyone who wants to fully understand why Americans are so divided over border walls, asylum policy, and sanctuary cities must read this outstanding book."―Tyler Anbinder, author of City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York

"America's xenophobic underbelly is laid bare by Erika Lee's meticulous chronicle, which begins well before 1776, when 'swarms' of Germans in the American colonies were labeled 'scum' and 'criminals,' and then details how those same hateful descriptions have been applied to Irish, Italians, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Muslims, and others. This fascinating, timely, and important book makes it possible for us to stop repeating history and instead to build bridges based on our shared immigrant experiences."―Helen Zia, author of Last Boat out of Shanghai

"America for Americans is an intellectual tour de force wrapped in a vibrant, accessible narrative. Erika Lee reveals how hostility toward foreigners has profoundly influenced popular imagination and public policy, beginning with agitation over German settlers in early America. The exclusionist rhetoric, practices, and policies so prevalent today are nothing new, but echo back centuries of marking the boundaries of belonging. A timely, eloquent meditation on immigration, Lee's book demonstrates why history matters in understanding the contemporary resurgence of xenophobia and makes plain its shameful consequences (past and present) for individuals and the nation."―Vicki L. Ruiz, author of From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America

About the Author

Erika Lee is is the inaugural Bae Family Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumni Professor at Harvard University. The past president of the Organization of American Historians, she is the author of The Making of Asian America and other award-winning books.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07P7GCS3K
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; Illustrated edition (November 26, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 26, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 41955 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 482 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1541672615
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 274 ratings

About the author

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Erika Lee

Erika Lee

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Erika Lee is the granddaughter of Chinese immigrants who entered the United States through both Angel Island and Ellis Island. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

She teaches American history at the University of Minnesota, where she is also a Regents Professor, the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History, and the Director of the Immigration

Recently awarded an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship and named Incoming Vice President of the Organization of American Historians, she is a frequent commentator in the media and the author of three award-winning books in U.S. immigration and Asian American history: At America's Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943 (University of North Carolina Press, 2003), Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America (co-authored with Judy Yung, Oxford University Press, 2010), and The Making of Asian America: A History (Simon & Schuster, 2015, 2nd ed., 2016, Chinese version, 2019). Lee’s new book, America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States will be published by Basic Books in November of 2019 and has already received high praise from reviewers, including a starred review from Kirkus. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two sons.

For more, visit: www.erikalee.org

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
274 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jason Harding
5.0 out of 5 stars Very well written pertinent book that is readable .
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2020
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Outstanding book tracing the issue of racism and exclusionary practices throughout American history.
It was informative yet very readable. I would not hesitate to recommend to high school students.
Author is very knowledgeable and gets the facts and story correctly. A good book for either a book club or study group. There are a number of outstanding recent books out there that are very worthwhile. You can also include this to your library.... but I am sure once you read it ... you will want to pass it along. Peace
5 people found this helpful
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JD Mcnolty
5.0 out of 5 stars At my house in like three days. Three to four days early. Book looks brand new.
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2023
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At my house in like three days. Three to four days early. Book looks brand new.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars America’s Relationship With Immigrants
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2023
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This book is an eye opener with how immigrants are viewed based on race and nationality. Erika Lee examines the harsh realities of who is a good immigrant vs. a bad immigrant starting with Ben Franklin’s view of German immigrants as undesirable to Donald Trump’s view of immigrants who are Muslims and Asians during the height of the coronavirus outbreak. The treatment of Japanese, Chinese, Mexican and other immigrant groups in the USA has been deplorable based on xenophobia, racism and White Supremacy ideologies. I always knew that immigrants have been treated badly throughout the centuries. I didn’t know how bad and systemic xenophobia existed in the USA toward immigrants until reading this book.
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David K. Cassidy
5.0 out of 5 stars America's Hidden History Revealed
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2021
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Ms. Lee writes an exellent well researched book on the history of immigration in America. It was not the history I was taught or read about during my earlier schooling of "America's melting pot". It should be a must read for all Americans! It describes this very sad phenomenon of how so many immigrates that suffered terrible discrimation went on to become the discriminators of subsequent immigrate groups or America's indigenet population. The abused becomes the abuser.
9 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars I LIKE THE WRITER
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2020
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I LIKE THE CONTENT AND THE WRITER.
2 people found this helpful
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AFS
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2021
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This is a masterwork
America for Americans is well written, deeply informed exploration of xenophobia throughout US history. Readers of this engaging book will recognize patterns and throughlines across US history. We have a wonderful tradition in the US as a homeland for newcomers, this is the other side of that story.
2 people found this helpful
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Thomas Kaun
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading if we are to change our future
Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2021
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From the very first chapter the author opens our eyes to the xenophobia at the heart of "American" culture and civilization. Did you know that Germans were considered dirty, illiterate, and incapable of assimilation in colonial times? Neither did I. It's a history we need to know and teach, not in a breast beating sort of way, but in way that demands we live up to our promise as a better way to be in the world. The historical insights alone are enough reason to read the book but read it also for hope.
4 people found this helpful
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Jose
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2021
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A very complete research for understanding how xenophobia and racism shape the U.S. society. A must read for professors, students and anyone who is interested in history, politics, and social sciences.
One person found this helpful
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