Title

Alien nation : common sense about America's immigration disaster

Description

The United States is being engulfed by the greatest wave of immigration it has ever faced. The latest immigrants are different from those who came before. These newcomers are less educated, less skilled, more prone to trouble with the law, less inclined to share American culture and values, and altogether less likely to become Americans in name or spirit. Brimelow believes that we cannot continue to admit millions of legal and illegal immigrants if we wish to maintain our standard of living and our national identity. Unless we restore immigration to its more traditional role, he says, the United States risks being turned into an alien nation. According to Brimelow, our problems began with the enactment of the 1965 Immigration Act, a well-meant reform that has gone demonstrably wrong. Nobody anticipated that it would rob us of the power to determine who can and cannot enter our national family and that it would trigger an ethnic and racial transformation without precedent in history. It was an astonishing social experiment launched with no particular reason to expect success. As Brimelow points out, there is no example of a multicultural society that has lasted; many have disintegrated into racial and linguistic enclaves. Brimelow explodes all the myths about immigration. He explains why the current flood of immigrants does not benefit the economy. He shows how they are a drain on our social infrastructure and the environment. Conventional wisdom dictates that it is un-American to be against immigration, but we have repeatedly restricted immigration throughout our history. George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson were all wary of letting in too many newcomers. The United States is a lifeboat. Taking in so many unskilled workers and so many millions with no desire to share our American identity, we risk capsizing and sinking. Peter Brimelow's persuasive call for reform boldly defines one of the most important and sensitive issues of the decade.

Identifier

531882

067943058X

Creator

Brimelow, Peter

Format

1st ed.

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

1995

Program air date: June 11, 1995

Publisher

Random House

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Notes on front endpaper: Twin bother. Wife Canadian. Great Wave 1890-1920; 2nd Great Wave-1965. What is the Rosenthal reflex., Academics are only pro-immigration p. 241. Map of American showing ethnic diversity p. 70. May 4, 4p.m.What is it like in other countries? p. 250. Act of 1965-impact. Bob Bartley, Julian Simon, Thomas Paine, Alexander, Maggy. Underlinings/Notes: Underlinings: Lamb underlines different eras of immigration, important events in US immigration history, impact of current policy, and problems with current policy. Notes: "Pessimistic," "son an American" "1/4 of the prisoners in federal pen.," "2000 1/4 of people of color," "America's core is white," "Virginia," "Bob Bartley," "Know nothings," "Irish," "Paine a man of the left," "melting pot," "Era of Mass Immigration" "Bell Curve--I've taken enough risk," "2060 whites in minority," "'Blacks 19.3% in colonial time," "British debates," "votes 1992," "Clinton," "academics," "Chinese policy," "non-nuclear extended family."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

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