| A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America According to the national mythology, the United States has long opened its doors to people from across the globe, providing a port in a storm and opportunity for any who seek it. Yet the history of immigration to the United States is far different. Even before the xenophobic reaction against European and Asian immigrants in the late nineteenth century, social and economic interest groups worked to manipulate immigration policy to serve their needs. In A Nation by Design , Aristide Zolberg explores American immigration policy from the colonial period to the present, discussing how it has been used as a tool of nation building. |