Origins and Destinies: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in America

Rating:
Summary: You took Soc 225, too?
Review: I took the same course that the other Chicagoan mentioned, and this was a required text. It does a great job of explaining how and why so many of us got here. While it was a great choice for the course, I'm now tracking it down 8 years later because I want to reread parts of it and pass it on to a friend. Truly valuable to anyone who wants to understand the landscape of this country. Ever wonder why most Filipinos in this country have a mom or an aunt (or both) who are nurses?

Rating:
Summary: Very informative
Review: This book seems to be intended as a text for a college course. I didn't take any course associated with this text, but I found the test interesting anyway. What I found most interesting was that this book provided me, finally, with the answer to that unusual question: "Why are there so many Korean stores in African American neighborhoods?" Having spent my teen years in an African American neighborhood, I have seen this first hand. This book says that this trend exists because African American neighborhoods in the inner city often have high crime rates and larger corporate supermarkets are not willing to take the risk of going into these areas. Independent store owners will take that risk, though.

This book also discusses the Mexican-American ("Chicano") community. It references Cesar Chavez and Jose Angel Gutierrez and the Chicano movement and the "La Raza Unida" movement. These are two men who have been important in my life because I spent the early years of my life living at "Colegio Cesar Chavez" ("Cesar Chavez College") in Mt. Angel, Oregon. See: COLEGIO CESAR CHAVEZ by Maldonado.

Many other ethnic groups are discussed as well.

Rating:
Summary: grest history lessons
Review: this book was assigned to a class i had in college 3 years ago. the class was Racial and Ethnic Groups which was a Sociology class. It gives excellent, well-written essays on various racial/ethnic groups. The book is truly a must have. This book unlike others gives an account of many groups in the U.S.