Synopses & Reviews
American immigrants are often considered symbols of hope and promise. Presidential candidates point to their immigrant roots, Ellis Island is celebrated as a national monument, and the melting pot remains a popular, if somewhat tarnished, American analogy. At the same time, images of impoverished Mexicans swarming across the Mexican-American border and boatloads of desperate Haitian and Cuban refugees depict America as a nation under siege. While governments and business interests generally welcome aliens for the economic benefits they generate, the success of these groups paradoxically stirs distrust and envy, leading to discrimination, oppression, and, in some cases, eviction.
Surveying the political and economic history of American immigration, Thomas Muller compellingly argues that the clamor at America's gate should be a cause of pride, not anxiety; a sign of vigor, not an omen of decline. Illustrating that recent waves of immigration have facilitated urban renewal, Muller emphasizes the many ways in which aliens have lessened our cities' social problems rather than contributing to them. Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and San Francisco, traditional gateways to other continents, have all benefited from the contributions of immigrants.
To assess perceived and actual costs of absorbing the new immigrants, Muller examines their impact on city income, housing, minority jobs, public services, and wages. But Muller argues that noneconomic concerns (such as recent attempts to formalize English as the country's official language) frequently mirror deeply-rooted fears that could explain the cyclical pattern of American attitudes toward immigrants over the last three centuries. The nation, he contends, may again be turning inward, initiating a period of growing hostility toward the foreign-born. Nonetheless, higher entry levels for skilled immigrants would improve the technological standing of the U.S., increase the standard of living for the middle class, and facilitate the resurgence of our inner cities.
Review
"An important and valuable book for policy-maker and layman alike. . . . More than any other recent treatment of the subject, Immigrants and the American City gathers all the available evidence, and addresses all the important questionsand counterquestionsabout immigration. And while arguing cogently for his own pro-immigration position, Muller affords the reader ample opportunity to decide for himself. In any public policy area, such a book stands out as an achievement. In immigration, it verges on being an inspiration." -The Washington Post Book World,
Review
"With superb use of a variety of analytical tools, Muller amply demonstrates that immigration did a great deal to create the economic and social vitality of America's `gateway cities,' while immigration restriction, coupled with middle-class flight to the suburbs, contributed to the rapid deterioration of those same centers after the 1920s. The increase in and changing nature of immigration after the 1960s has once again made the cities into immigrant centers, with positive results in business and job creation and the revitalization of whole neighborhoods. Although the cities have paid a price, especially in conflict between immigrants and domestic minorities, Muller argues the benefits accrued have been far more substantial than the costs."-Choice,
Review
"An important, well-researched, and thoughtful book on one of the key issues on the American domestic agenda." -Nathan Glazer,Harvard University
Review
"A timely and important study of immigration into the United States, a vital topic that will not go away."-Kenneth E. Boulding,University of Colorado
Review
"An important and valuable book for policy-maker and layman alike. . . . More than any other recent treatment of the subject, Immigrants and the American City gathers all the available evidence, and addresses all the important questionsand counterquestionsabout immigration. And while arguing cogently for his own pro-immigration position, Muller affords the reader ample opportunity to decide for himself. In any public policy area, such a book stands out as an achievement. In immigration, it verges on being an inspiration."
"With superb use of a variety of analytical tools, Muller amply demonstrates that immigration did a great deal to create the economic and social vitality of America's `gateway cities,' while immigration restriction, coupled with middle-class flight to the suburbs, contributed to the rapid deterioration of those same centers after the 1920s. The increase in and changing nature of immigration after the 1960s has once again made the cities into immigrant centers, with positive results in business and job creation and the revitalization of whole neighborhoods. Although the cities have paid a price, especially in conflict between immigrants and domestic minorities, Muller argues the benefits accrued have been far more substantial than the costs."
"An important, well-researched, and thoughtful book on one of the key issues on the American domestic agenda."
"A timely and important study of immigration into the United States, a vital topic that will not go away."
Review
"This is a rare book—haunting fragments from the lives of men and women on their way to the electric chair. A moving and troubling epitaph for the guilty and perhaps the innocent."-William Kennedy,author of Ironweed
Review
"Simply by presenting excerpts from the state's own internal files, this book offers some of the most compelling evidence against the death penalty."-Mario Cuomo,former Governor of New York
Review
"A haunting experience. Combining the clinical virtuosity of an exhumation with the fascination of an archeological dig, it delivers a powerful intellectual message about the death penalty. Among the most vicious features of capital punishment are the veils of secrecy and forgetting with which we shroud the rituals of execution. Condemned tears away those veils and makes us take a hard, cold look at the human realities they try to hide."-Anthony G. Amsterdam,Professor of Law at New York University School of Law
Review
"Unusually intimate and powerful."-New York Times,
Review
"A slim volume of indelible impressions. . . . Highly recommended."-Library Journal,
Synopsis
American immigrants are often considered symbols of hope and promise. Presidential candidates point to their immigrant roots, Ellis Island is celebrated as a national monument, and "the melting pot" remains a popular, if somewhat tarnished, American analogy. At the same time, images of impoverished Mexicans swarming across the Mexican-American border and boat-loads of desperate Haitian and urban refugees depict America as a nation under siege. While governments and business interests generally welcome aliens for the economic benefits the generate, the success of these groups paradoxically stirs distrust and envy leading to discrimination, oppression, and, in some cases, deportation. Surveying the political and economic history of American immigration, Thomas Muller compellingly argues that the clamor at America's gate should be a cause of pride, not anxiety; a sign of vigor, not an omen of decline. Illustrating that recent waves of immigration have facilitated urban renewal, Muller emphasizes the many ways in which aliens have lessened our cities' social problems rather than contributing to them. Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and San Francisco, traditional gateways to other continents, have all benefited from the contributions of immigrants. To assess perceived and actual costs of absorbing the new immigrants, Muller examines their impact on city income, housing, minority jobs, public services, and wages. But Muller argues that noneconomic concerns (such as recent attempts to formalize English as the country's official language) frequently mirror deeply rooted fears that could explain the cyclical pattern of American attitudes toward immigrants over the last three centuries. The nation, he contends, may again be turning inward, initiating a period of growing hostility toward the foreign-born. Nonetheless, higher entry levels for skilled immigrants would improve the technological standing of the U.S. increase the standard of living for the middle class, and facilitate the resurgence of our inner cities.
Synopsis
In the annals of American criminal justice, two prisons stand out as icons of institutionalized brutality and deprivation: Alcatraz and Sing Sing. In the 70 odd years before 1963, when the death sentence was declared unconstitutional in New York, Sing Sing was the site of almost one-half of the 1,353 executions carried out in the state. More people were executed at Sing Sing than at any other American prison, yet Sing Sing's death house was, to a remarkable extent, one of the most closed, secret and mythologized places in modern America.
In this remarkable book, based on recently revealed archival materials, Scott Christianson takes us on a disturbing and poignant tour of Sing Sing's legendary death house, and introduces us to those whose lives Sing Sing claimed. Within the dusty files were mug shots of each newly arrived prisoner, most still wearing the out-to-court clothes they had on earlier that day when they learned their verdict and were sentenced to death. It is these sometimes bewildered, sometimes defiant, faces that fill the pages of Condemned, along with the documents of their last months at Sing Sing.
The reader follows prisoners from their introduction to the rules of Sing Sing, through their contact with guards and psychiatrists, their pleas for clemency, escape attempts, resistance, and their final letters and messages before being put to death. We meet the mother of five accused of killing her husband, the two young Chinese men accused of a murder during a robbery and the drifter who doesn't remember killing at all. While the majority of inmates are everyday people, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were also executed here, as were the major figures in the infamous Murder Inc., forerunner of the American mafia. Page upon page, Condemned leaves an indelible impression of humanity and suffering.
About the Author
Scott Christianson is the author of Notorious Prison: Inside the World's Most Feared Institutions and Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House (NYU Press, 1999). A longtime investigative reporter, his articles have appeared in The New York Times, the The Washington Post, The Nation, the Criminal Law Bulletin and many other publications. Since the author began this project, six of the convictions discussed in Innocent have been overturned.