Races and Immigrants in America

by John Rogers Commons

green cloth binding with gilt lettering and decorative stamping in black showing immigrants disembarking from ships. John Rogers Commons (1862 – 1945) was an American institutional economist and labor historian at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Commons believed that carefully crafted legislation could create social change; this view led him to be known as a conservative radical and incrementalist. He also believed that the so-called white races were more fit for democracy than the so-called tropical races. This book Races and Immigrants in America helped lay the groundwork for the later eugenics movement.

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1907

About the author

John Rogers Commons was an American institutional economist, Georgist, progressive and labor historian at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R....

Reviews

[Julieann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book. It's old, over 100 years old, so the author includes many of the bias and opinions of the time. For example, he considers "race" depending on country or origin - and those races had traits as race. What is surprising are his positions that are contrary to popular ones.

One point he makes over and over is the need for education,. Education changes racial traits, according wording to this author. He has strong views on the value of freedom of religion - which means no state support of any religion or group of religions.

Read it and see if you agree with what he has to say.