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Author: Nancy Foner in Conversation with Alan M. Kraut

Sociologist Nancy Foner discusses her new book, "One Quarter of the Nation: Immigration and the Transformation of America," with historian Alan M. Kraut.

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From the publisher: "The impact of immigrants over the past half century has become so much a part of everyday life in the United States that we sometimes fail to see it. This deeply researched book by one of America’s leading immigration scholars tells the story of how immigrants are fundamentally changing this country.

An astonishing number of immigrants and their children—nearly eighty-six million people—now live in the United States. Together, they have transformed the American experience in profound and far-reaching ways that go to the heart of the country’s identity and institutions.

Unprecedented in scope, 'One Quarter of the Nation' traces how immigration has reconfigured America’s racial order—and, importantly, how Americans perceive race—and played a pivotal role in reshaping electoral politics and party alignments. It discusses how immigrants have rejuvenated our urban centers as well as some far-flung rural communities, and examines how they have strengthened the economy, fueling the growth of old industries and spurring the formation of new ones. This wide-ranging book demonstrates how immigration has touched virtually every facet of American culture, from the music we dance to and the food we eat to the films we watch and books we read.

'One Quarter of the Nation' opens a new chapter in our understanding of immigration. While many books look at how America changed immigrants, this one examines how they changed America. It reminds us that immigration has long been a part of American society, and shows how immigrants and their families continue to redefine who we are as a nation."

Nancy Foner is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her many books include "Strangers No More" (Princeton University Press, 2015), "In a New Land" (New York University Press, 2005), and "From Ellis Island to JFK" (Yale University Press, 2002).

Alan M. Kraut is Distinguished Professor of History at American University and a Non-Resident Fellow of the Migration Policy Institute. His many books include "The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American Society, 1880–1921" (Wiley-Blackwell, 2nd edition 2001) and "Ethnic Historians and the Mainstream: Shaping America’s Immigration Story" (Rutgers University Press, co-edited, 2013). Dr. Kraut is a past President of the Organization of American Historians and serves as the current president of the National Coalition for History, chair of the History Advisory Committee of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., and an elected fellow of the Society of American Historians. In 2017 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society.

Presented in partnership with Princeton University Press and with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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