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State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America

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Pat Buchanan is sounding the alarm. Since 9/11, more than four million illegal immigrants have crossed our borders, and there are more coming every day. Our leaders in Washington lack the political will to uphold the rule of law. The Melting Pot is broken beyond repair, and the future of our nation is at stake.
In this important book, Pat Buchanan reveals that, slowly but surely, the great American Southwest is being reconquered by Mexico. These lands---which many Mexicans believe are their birthright---are being detached ethnically, linguistically, and culturally from the United States by a deliberate policy of the Mexican regime. This is the "Aztlan Plot" for "La Reconquista," the recapture of the lands lost by Mexico in the Texas War of Independence and Mexican-American War.
Comparing the immigrant invasion of America from across the Mexican border---and of Europe from across the Mediterranean---to the barbarian invasions that ended the Roman Empire, the author writes with passion and conviction that we have begun the final chapter of the Death of the West. Unless the invasion is halted now, Buchanan argues, by midcentury America will be a country unrecognizable to our parents, the Third World dystopia that Theodore Roosevelt warned against when he said we must never let America become a "polyglot boardinghouse" for the world.
President Bush's failure to halt the invasion and secure America's border, Buchanan writes, is a dereliction of constitutional duty that, in other times, would have called forth articles of impeachment. In the final chapter, "Last Chance," he lays out a sweeping immigration reform and border security plan, which, he contends, if not pursued, means George W. Bush's legacy will be to have lost for America a Southwest that was the legacy of Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson, and James K. Polk. With an estimated ten to fifteen million "illegals" already here and tens of millions more poised to pour across our borders, few books could be as timely---or important---as State of Emergency . It is essential reading for all Americans.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published August 22, 2006

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About the author

Patrick J. Buchanan

22 books397 followers
One of America's best known paleoconservatives, Buchanan served as a senior advisor to Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. He ran for president in 1992, 1996 and 2000. Buchanan is an isolationist on the subject of American foreign policy and believes in a restrictive immigration policy.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/patric...

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5 stars
124 (35%)
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106 (30%)
3 stars
79 (22%)
2 stars
23 (6%)
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19 (5%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
Profile Image for Dwight Stone.
47 reviews23 followers
February 9, 2022
Thought-provoking, and filled a few gaps for me, statistically and historically speaking. While I do think some of his conclusions could be classified as alarmism, I agree that illegal immigration is going to lead to the eventual choking-out of all American culture.
Profile Image for Friedrich Mencken.
98 reviews76 followers
April 12, 2025
Buchanan tried to warn people that "the existential crisis of Western civilisation does not come from Islamic terrorism... The crisis of the West is of a collapsing culture and vanishing peoples... If we do not shake of our paralysis, the West comes to an end."(p-245) before it was cool.

He points to the fact the American people was swindled by "the Immigration Act of 1965 was stealth law, its results the very opposite of what its champion had promised... Senator Edward Kennedy... pledged: "[O]ur cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually... the present level of immigration remains substantially the same... the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset... S.500 will not inundate America with immigrants from any other country or area"... Only haters would make such assertions, thundered Kennedy...What happened?... The U.S added at least 40 million immigrants after 1965. Before 1965, 95 percent of the new immigrants had come from Europe. After 1965, 95 percent came from the third world. The 1965 act has transformed American society and had consequences exactly the opposite of what we were promised."(p-238) Ever since "in our diversity is our strength, we are daily indoctrinated." When in fact "in our unity is our strength. If we do not again become one nation and one people, we will lose our country."(p-249) is the hard truth.

He shows the motivations of the Mexican government in enabling illegal immigration. "Another reason Mexico must retain an open border is regime survival... By pushing her poor into the United States, Mexico relieves her self of the burden of providing for their welfare and receives a bonanza of billions in the remittances Mexican workers in the states send back to support their destitute families... If Mexico's misgoverned people cannot escape, they will rebel. Mexico uses America as a dumping ground for her discontented millions."(p-130) I would add the massive revenue of criminality to this racket.

And how both sides of political America was complicit in this scam. "Corporate America wants an endless supply of cheap labor... The democratic party sees in mass immigration the future voters... The GOP is terrified of offending 43 million Hispanics and of a cutoff in campaign cash if it imposes sanctions on corporate scofflaws who regularly hire illegal aliens."(p-247)

The reason the media, the unions and churches all favor amnesty is because of "White guilt - the need to win enough moral authority around race to prove that one is not racist - is the price whites today pay for this history. Political correctness is a language that enables whites to show by wildly exaggerated courtesy that they are not racist; diversity does this for institutions."(p-172) a quote by Shelby Steele that emphasizes that "Liberalism is the ideology of Western suicide. Its ideas, pursued to their logical end, James Burnham argued, will prove fatal to the west."(p-248) Truer words have never been spoken. Too bad we didn't hear the warnings of reason because of feelings...
1 review
July 4, 2020
Even moderate immigration restrictionists should probably be a little embarrassed by this one.

"State of Emergency" is the book version of that particularly problematic relative who you need to avoid at family Thanksgivings. Whereas most anti-immigration books at least put on a veneer of detachment and objectivity, "State of Emergency" jumps straight into a swimming pool of fearful emotions. I usually bend over backwards to avoid labeling restrictionist arguments as 'xenophobic'... but with this book it was difficult to talk myself out of that word.

This book pronounces its outlook in its subtitle: "The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America". The text treats Mexican immigrants (and, as it turns out, Hispanic Americans in general) as morally indistinguishable from a militarized colonial force. It repeatedly warns that the entirety of Western Civilization is on the brink of destruction, and advocates for a complete moratorium on immigration as the only "last chance". Although taking pains to distance its views from outright racism, readers will keep bumping into sections that can charitably be described as 'very problematic', like the outright praise and endorsement of the infamous novel "Camp of the Saints", the surprising emphasis on 'ancestry' and 'ethnicity' as vital to the American nation, or the shocking suggestion that Hispanic peoples have "never before been assimilated into a First World nation". Modern Hispanic Americans might be... surprised at this news.

Actual arguments against immigration, whether legal or illegal, are very few and far between in the text... but I might still recommend this book to students of the topic, if only for Chapter 9, "What Is A Nation?". This chapter addresses a topic too often left out of books on immigration: a discussion of what nationalism means. In Mr. Buchanan's case, he gives a legitimately interesting (if unconvincing) defense of "traditional nationalism" (nationalism based on ancestry, history, birth, and... sigh... "blood and soil"), and an attack against creedal nationalism (nationalism based on shared values and institutions).

But to anybody interested in a good-faith discussion about immigration in America, I would direct them away from this title, if for no other reason than to avoid a strawman of the better, more reasonable restrictionist arguments.
Profile Image for Samantha.
392 reviews
December 19, 2007
This was a good book. A great history book that fills you in on different points in history were immigration has ruined a nation. Mr. Buchanan lays down a very good case using a lot of quotes and sitations. However, I felt it was too much. I wanted his point of view not a bunch of quotes that he picked to back him up. Some are give it weight but too many and you get bogged down. I enjoyed how he wove it all together. However, I felt that some of the chapters didn't have a point and were repetition of the previous chapter. I would have liked Mr. Buchanan to have broken things down a little better. Sometimes I felt he was over my head a lot of the time. I enjoyed how he told how different nations in history solved their problem and how many didn't and what happened. Overall this is a very good book that will open a lot of people's eyes if they truly read it and understand it. It's not a Republican book.
Profile Image for Ken.
60 reviews1 follower
October 7, 2007
Buchanan is usually to the right of me, but on this issue we agree. Illegal immigration is one of our most serious problems. This is the best book on the subject that I have read. Every U.S.citizen should read this book before it is too late for our country.
Profile Image for Aja.
19 reviews1 follower
May 21, 2021
Hatefully biased fear mongering propaganda
1,628 reviews29 followers
July 27, 2024
An expose on the use of exploiting border leniency to lower wages, reduce the quality of life, and provide scab labor for industry at the expense of the citizens.
Profile Image for Russ Lemley.
84 reviews10 followers
June 30, 2025
Regardless of your political perspective, if you want to understand the framework behind the Trump administration's current stance on immigration, this is a great book with which to begin.

Buchanan provides a perspective on immigration that focuses on its impact on the American people. This is in direct contrast to recent narratives on immigration, which focuses on those who have recently entered the country, regardless of their legal status.

Buchanan provides detailed and layered arguments that the uncontrolled immigration America has been experiencing since the 1960s may have an irreversible impact on the character of American culture and politics. Notwithstanding these trends, Americans have been consistently opposed to such waves on new entrants into the country. It is only recently since those concerns appear to be addressed. Buchanan's arguments are in support of these concerns; he provides extensive documented support for his claims.

This book has two basic flaws. First, he tends to repeat himself throughout the book. While it may make sense to bring up the same point to support a different claim, there are times when he unnecessarily repeats a point. Second, sometimes his rhetoric can get ahead of the claims he is making. He is clearly a gifted rhetorician, but his emotions occasionally get the better of him.

Notwithstanding these drawbacks, this is an excellent book that articulates quite well the concerns about immigration that had been ignored for decades. If anything, his arguments hold up even better as time passes. Whether these concerns can be adequately addressed at this stage is another question entirely.
Profile Image for Rob Smith, Jr..
1,289 reviews35 followers
June 21, 2018
Buchanan unfolds the absolute crisis of immigration issues in America in this 2006 book. Many of us have been barking about this since the 1980s based upon empirical data, not hysterical and emotional garbage by those who don't believe this is America's course. The entire alteration of the US that has been and is happening, is not to be emotional about. It will happen, the traditions that shaped the US will be a thing of the past. It's unlikely democracy will survive due to so many immigrants coming from totalitarian government countries that discourages freedom and political interaction. So many immigrants into the US don't even understand why we vote!

Buchanan covers most all of this and more in detail with logical and empirical data supporting his conclusions. Conclusions, these many, many years later, have proven to be true. Considering politicos in Washington have continued policies Buchanan warns will lead to his further conclusions. Folks act as if what we see around us today will be the same 15 years from now. The trajectory following Buchanan's warnings create a certainty life in America will be very different.

This book is also well written. Unlike many politicos who produce books that are a shadow of their presence in other media. Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham come to mind.

This is an excellent book that both conservatives and liberals who have read it have greatly praised.

Bottom line: i recommend it. 10 out of 10 points.
Profile Image for Ale Ech.
68 reviews4 followers
June 5, 2022
The guy makes an effort to give arguments about the importance of history, culture and nation. I like that it includes a lot of interesting facts. I also like the criticism he makes of the corporate elite. However, it enters into many contradictions, it is alarmist and with an air of superiority it seems to ignore or evade the fact that the United States is a new nation that wiped out native peoples. Nor does he seem to mind the fact that the United States has fueled drug trafficking, violence, and poverty not only in Mexico, but throughout Latin America. As a good politician, he seeks to provide quick solutions to deep problems such as migration.
Finally, it seems to me that he needs to go deep in the following question: why don't white people have more babies? Is it a matter of infertility, ideology, individualism, economic issues? It would be interesting to know why the whites are getting older and they don't reproduce anymore.
12 reviews
May 29, 2025
I’ve been reading a lot of paleocons, conservative traditionalists/communitarians, and etc. since October, as I realized I had quit devoting the proper time to the ideas and thinkers that were defining and driving today’s GOP.

Buchanan seems like required reading for anyone on the Right these days (probably anyone interested in immigration policy in general) regardless of how you feel about him, as the people making decisions are reading and quoting him.

He is an alarmist in some ways here, as the demographics of Trump’s winning coalition shows the future is always unpredictable. That said, if you’re looking for a primer on the current GOP’s immigration views and policy, as well as a short-but-solid Anglophone guide to opposing mass immigration and the universalizing effects of modern liberalism, the ideas here will only become increasingly important and central to American political debates as time goes on.
Profile Image for Paul O'Leary.
190 reviews27 followers
February 4, 2017
Pat has a legitimate beef: Trump has indeed stolen his "playbook". Right down to his Mexican wall; though Pat actually just calls for building a double fence. Unfortunately, Pat's playbook delivered through the Donald's mouth doesn't begin to do his(Buchanan's) arguments justice. Pat is a thoughtful, funny, and smart man who isn't afraid to ruffle the feathers of liberal convention, nor conservative intellectual laziness and hypocrisy, for that matter. Others of some note seem to draw inspiration from him. For instance, Walter Laqueur's Last Days of Europe came to mind as I read through Buchanan's State of Emergency. This is an invaluable book for those, whether right or leftward leaning, seeking a provocative guide to the tumultuous politics of anti-immigration, which figured so prominently in our last US presidential election.
Profile Image for Tariq Ali.
284 reviews2 followers
October 14, 2017
I can't agree with Patrick J. Buchanan on many of his views but I do agree that immigration will be the downfall of the U.S.
Profile Image for Nick.
50 reviews
April 28, 2023
He did it again. He convinced me we’re utterly fucked. Every problem he talks about is 15-20 years ahead of the curve and it’s all gotten 100x worse
61 reviews1 follower
September 11, 2025
It breaks my heart everyday that Buchanan called out every single subversive action that was being done in America from the 1970s onwards. He was right about everything. The foreigners are taking our European Christian country from us. Our leaders are traitors. It's so shameful that he was essentially kicked out of the GOP for calling out treachery and cowardice among its elite.
Profile Image for Hannah.
10 reviews
January 1, 2020
“It is the thesis of State of Emergency that the Melting Pot is broken beyond repair, that assimilation and Americanization are not taking place.”

I thought I knew what I was getting into when I read the description of this book, (and I really did read this with intent of getting a better understanding of the argument against immigration), but most of his arguments make no sense and just come off as race-baiting.

For example, in the section about IQ/test scores across different races, he argues that because latinos and blacks fare worse than whites and asians, immigration should be curbed. What argument is he making here? Honestly this chapter felt like he was trying to prop up the egos of his white readers because there really weren’t any substantive assertions made. Also if he cares so much about asians and their test scores so much, how come he never addresses the Chinese exclusion act?

1960 is the year he throws around as kind of his “ideal America” where 90% of people were from European descent after years and years of allowing mass European immigration and disallowing immigration from elsewhere. He explicitly says that the Irish and the Italians and the Eastern Europeans were fine, because they “assimilated”  but latin american migrants do not.
He brings up the importance of a similar “culture” and “religion” and “language” a lot (not skin color), but how can he argue that Europeans (who are mostly Judeo-christian, don’t speak English as a first language, and follow western cultural norms) are more inclined to assimilate than latinos (who are mostly Judeo-christian, don’t speak English as a first language, and follow western cultural norms)? I’m obviously generalizing here, but you get my point. He only ever targets non-white people as the problem.

What I got from this book is that he’s happy this country allowed his ancestors in, but now that the culture is shifting and the people around him are turning a shade darker, we must stop being open to people looking for a better life.

If you’re wondering why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1, it’s because of the chapter on how corporate interests decide how the federal government approaches trade and globalization and immigration as opposed to the people. Also I’m pretty generous with my Goodreads ratings. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Profile Image for Jaybird Rex.
42 reviews26 followers
May 1, 2010
I consider myself a progressive and, as part of that, try to take an eristic approach to everything. Sometimes that means picking up a Pat Buchanan book. He excels at making his point in this one: The current high volume of illegal immigrants in the U.S. is a serious, even existential problem, bound to ruin us culturally and economically if not tackled asap.

I don't agree that this is so. Yes, there are certainly "Chicano Chauvinists" are taking advantage of the weird moral exercise of guilt a lot of white Yankees put themselves through in order to further an idealistic goal of making the southwest U.S. into a sort of Kosovo Grande (my term, not Buchanan's). But this is a fringe - mainly college kids plumb full of youthful fire and stupidity, and insulated for the most part from the possibility of deportation. That vast majority of foreigners residing in the US illegally are just trying to do better for themselves and their families. What's more American than that?

As race and cultural assimilation are blurred together I find the argument becomes shaky. This is part of the point he's making, however: We can't discuss the problem without fear of being offensive, and so nothing's being done.
Profile Image for noblethumos.
745 reviews75 followers
March 27, 2023
"State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America" is a book written by Patrick J. Buchanan, a conservative American commentator, journalist, and politician. The book was published in 2006 and became a bestseller in the United States.

In "State of Emergency," Buchanan argues that the United States is facing a crisis caused by mass immigration from predominantly non-European countries, particularly from Latin America and Asia. He claims that this immigration is fundamentally changing the ethnic and cultural makeup of the country, leading to the decline of traditional American values and the erosion of national identity.

Buchanan asserts that this transformation is a threat to American sovereignty, security, and prosperity. He calls for a more restrictive immigration policy, including increased border security, a reduction in legal immigration, and the repatriation of illegal immigrants.

The book has been criticized by some for promoting nativist and xenophobic views. However, it has also been praised by others for raising important questions about the impact of immigration on American society and culture.

GPT
2 reviews
October 19, 2007
What I learned from this book...

AMERICA IS DOOMED! Immigration (both legal and illegal) is going to destroy everything our founding fathers and countless generations of Americans have worked so hard to build. Third world immigrants from around the globe are changing the face of America and quickly turning America into the largest third world conglomerate on the planet.

Our children and our children's children had better learn to speak Spanish cause English speaking Americans are going to be the minority within the next century.
164 reviews6 followers
May 15, 2010
This book makes one think. Whether or not one agrees with Buchanan's conclusions this book will make one assess what the terms Culture and Civilization mean. American Culture and Western Civilization are being destroyed by a misplaced sense of guilt, and a misguided sense of material elitism. Read this book and understand why Culture matters.
Profile Image for Caralee.
50 reviews1 follower
July 20, 2008
I ended up not finishing this book, it was just stats and similar information that was repeated over and over. I might try to read it again later, but I found another book to read that will benefit me a lot more.
15 reviews
October 10, 2010
It was good but the flirtation with the "bell curve" stuff was too unpalatable to lend any weight to his argument. I agree with the data and the necessity to act but would wave deleted the chapter on relativism.
74 reviews
March 19, 2017
Decent --- At times racist, at times xenophobic but some good historical information on immigration to the US over the past 150 years. Strong focus on the Southern border and those who cross it illegally.
Profile Image for Andy Ward.
43 reviews2 followers
September 14, 2014
Excellent book on the immigration issue. It's a little dated now, being written under W's administration, but still an excellent look at the effects of illegal immigration, how to solve the problem, and much more. Despite its age, the book is definitely a good read on the topic.
Profile Image for E.
50 reviews
August 25, 2007
Good Read. Lots of people think he is out there. I don't. I think he is just unafraid to say it like it is.
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