Natives and Strangers: A Multicultural History of Americans

Now in its fourth edition, Natives and Strangers explores various aspects of minority group history, describing the impact America has had on minority peoples and cultures--and vice versa--and providing some understanding of the different conditions, conflicts, and contradictions that members of American minority groups experienced. Beginning with the American Indian migration throughout the United States, the book discusses the variety of Indian cultures that Europeans encountered, incorporating the most recent literature on the subject. As in earlier editions, the fourth edition integrates the experiences of racial, religious, and national minorities, explaining how their histories intertwined with the emergence of modern America. It also explores the far-reaching implications of recent immigration laws, presenting the controversy over multiculturalism in terms of understanding American history. The authors conclude with reflections on where the nation stands today as an ethnically and racially diverse society.
For the fourth edition, Dinnerstein, Nichols, and Reimers have made extensive revisions. While the previous editions used economic development to organize and tell the history of America's multicultural society, this text focuses much more on ethnic groups themselves, the roles the groups played in American social developments, and the impact of economic changes on ethnicity. In addition, the authors include more information on the post-1960 period, particularly in regard to immigration and American Indians. They have expanded the discussion of the meaning of such terms as "white" and "people of color" and have updated all content--especially information on gender, Indian-white contact, and cultural history--by incorporating new findings from recent scholarship. This new edition contains extensive statistics culled from the recently available 2000 U.S. Census report; it features an explanation of what these latest figures indicate about America's ethnic makeup and revised tables and graphs that reflect this new data. Natives and Strangers, 4/e, is ideal for undergraduate courses covering immigration, American social history, and American ethnic groups.