America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States

by Erika Lee

This definitive history of American xenophobia is "essential reading for anyone who wants to build a more inclusive society." (Ibram X. Kendi, New York Times -bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist ).

The United States is known as a nation of immigrants. But it is also a nation of xenophobia. In America for Americans , Erika Lee shows that an irrational fear, hatred, and hostility toward immigrants has been a defining feature of our nation from the colonial era to the Trump era. Benjamin Franklin ridiculed Germans for their "strange and foreign ways." Americans' anxiety over Irish Catholics turned xenophobia into a national political movement. Chinese immigrants were excluded, Japanese incarcerated, and Mexicans deported.

Today, Americans fear Muslims, Latinos, and the so-called browning of America. Forcing us to confront this history, Lee explains how xenophobia works, why it has endured, and how it threatens America. Now updated with an afterword reflecting on how the coronavirus pandemic turbocharged xenophobia, America for Americans is an urgent spur to action for any concerned citizen.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Race, American History, Social Justice, Sociology

432 pages, Hardcover

First published November 26, 2019

About the author

I’m a writer and professor who loves reading and writing. I finished my fourth book: America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the U.S., which will be published by Basic Books/Hachette on November 26, 2019.

I’m a historian who still does history the old-fashioned way by doing research in the archives. I get excited finding dusty documents, but I’m also fully immersed in the 21st century as a #twitterstorian who is helping to build a digital archive of immigrant digital stories and provide historical commentary to the news.

I write about immigrants, Asian Americans, and race as a way to understand America in the past and present. I write history “from the bottom up,” focusing on everyday people and their role in American life. I fervently believe that there has never been a more important time for strong, fact-based, and accessible history and journalism. In a society that seemingly accepts the erasure and misinterpretation of history as well as the manipulation and denial of facts, we need to understand how we got to where we are today, what is at stake, and what we can do to create change.

I wrote America for Americans in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential elections. My students, many of whom are first-generation immigrants and refugees, kept asking "How could we have elected a president who called Mexicans 'rapists' and 'criminals' and called for a 'complete and total shutdown of Muslims to the US'?" And "how could this have happened today, after two terms of our first African American president?"

I didn't have the answers. And none of the books on my shelves did either. So I decided to write my own. America for Americans is a sobering history. It was hard to write (and it literally made me sick to do so!) But I think it is a necessary wake up call for all of us who seek to live in a humane and welcoming world. I hope that you will enjoy it!

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed account of the United States’ devastating history of xenophobia. Erika Lee shows how anti-immigrant prejudice and discrimination manifested against Catholic immigrants, then Chinese immigrants, then Italian, Jewish, and Eastern European immigrants, then Mexicans living in the United States, then Japanese Americans, and now Muslim Americans. As you can see just from that sentence, the United States has a long and abhorrent history of xenophobia, oftentimes against people who were United States citizens too (e.g., the deportation of Mexicans during the Great Depression and the forcing of Japanese Americans into internment camps). Lee’s writing is straightforward and she reveals a history that we should all be aware of as we take action to fight xenophobia.

There is a lot of history packed into this book so prepare for fact after fact if you read this one. Also, while I appreciated Lee’s recommendations for action and policy in the conclusion chapter, I wondered if there could have been more commentary inserted throughout the book to break up some of the historical timeline. Still, would recommend for those who want to learn more about xenophobia in the United States and our awful treatment of immigrants.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: Erika Lee is my sister. She is also a SUPER STUD/award-winning historian and this is her fourth book! It is outstanding, informative, disturbing, and... SHOCKING!

From her Washington Post Perspective published on 11/26/19 entitled, "Trump’s xenophobia is an American tradition — but it doesn’t have to be," "...the truth is that xenophobia has always been a central part of American life. It is an American tradition that shapes our worldview, mobilizes voters and generates profits. It influences our international relations and dictates domestic policy. And it is a form of racism and discrimination that has threatened the democratic ideals upon which this country was founded."

Benjamin Franklin was worried about the Germans. Samuel Morse thought Catholic immigrants were an "insidious invasion." Chinese immigrants were excluded from immigrating in 1882. Italian, Jewish, and Eastern Europeans in the 1890's were labeled as "inferior." Mexicans living in the US (60% of whom were US citizens) were deported back to Mexico during the Great Depression. During WWII, Japanese Americans (including American citizens) were put in internment "camps." And more recently, Muslim Americans and children have been targeted.

I bought both the Kindle version and the Audible audiobook so I could switch back and forth. Both were outstanding. I learned much that was completely new to me. Clearly meticulously researched and told as history should be: as a story well-told. Personal stories of real people bring the history alive.

*Ms. Magazine's November 2019 Reads for the Rest of Us
*USA Today’s “5 Books Not to Miss" (11/23/19)
Time Magazine’s “Here Are the 11 New Books You Should Read in November”:

Library Journal review: "This thoroughly researched, informative, and lucid work is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, and how it influences the current political environment."

Publishers Weekly review: "This clearly organized and lucidly written book should be read by a wide audience. "

Lest you think that this book is depressing, take heart: the *other* American tradition Erika writes about is... challenging and resisting xenophobia. Many stories of brave people who stood up to the bullies/racists/poor examples of humanity are throughout this book.

So proud!

[Colleen Browne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author dug very deeply for this book. Beginning with German immigration and their ill treatment during colonial days to the Irish, to the Chinese, Japanese, Italians, everyone. As Americans we have tended to believe that xenophobia was something that sprang up in the country on occasion- usually triggered by a crisis but Lee contends that it has been a part of American history from the beginning and has always been present and she proves it.

Xenophobia is tied in with racism and prejudice generally. Moreover, it has often happened that when one group is gradually accepted as "American", they have behaved the same way toward new groups coming in. At one time, Xenophobes even formed a political party, colloquially known as the Know Nothings. The Chinese, of course were completely excluded from the country and Native Americans were pushed off their land and not even granted American citizenship until the 20th Century.

Donald Trump and the Republicans have exercised extreme xenophobia, using people's fears to ban Muslims from the country. The restrictions that Trump put on immigration during covid were shameful with people seeking refuge status dying as a result of his racism and xenophobic policies. This is a well-written and exceptionally researched book and should be read by all Americans. It allows us to see ourselves how we really are and perhaps learn from our many mistakes.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 5 out of 5]

The more of American history I read, the more it feels like time is a circle. Except just as the wheel revolves, you stare at the rim and go "oh fuck here we go again."

This is a detailed overview of the history of xenophobia and exclusionary practices of the US and state governments dating from the time the first white Englishmen stepped foot onto the new world. From individual states tossing out Germans to the banning of the Irish and Catholics to the No-Nothings and the removal of Chinese immigrants and Mexicans and Muslims and the policing of whiteness, this book covers...quite a lot.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author provides an honest look at US history, thoroughly explaining how the varying levels of legal abilities and citizenship were determined by a person’s race and skin color.

Facts are presented in chronological order, but not in a dry academic way. The entire book feels like the author’s expression of outrage towards the injustices caused by US immigration laws.

I was surprised how the anti-immigration rhetoric of the past is still repeated verbatim today. For example, Benjamin Franklin was vocal about his dislike of European immigrants, specifically describing the German immigrants arriving at that time as the most ignorant and stupid of their own nation, and not able to assimilate, and preserve our own language, laws, liberties, and manners.

Franklin’s message was echoed in 2015 when Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency and said, “When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

This made me question why people are still having fears about immigration if those same fears never materialized into the problems people were anticipating back in the past. Xenophobia has an insidious hold on our country - its ideologies have been exploited by politicians for votes, and by corporations like CoreCivic which operate border detention facilities for profit.

I recommend this book because it examines the harm committed against immigrants in this country. Learning the truth about the past is the first step towards making the necessary changes for these harms to never happen again.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

University of Minnesota Professor Erika Lee has argued convincingly in this book that although Americans like to think of themselves as constituting a nation of immigrants, xenophobia (meaning anxiety for foreigners) has nonetheless marred American history from the 1700s to the present. In other words, fear of immigrants living in the United States is not just a phenomenon from our own time. Through archival research, she reaches all the way back to the mid-eighteenth century to make clear to readers that the headlines we see in today's newspapers instead have long roots in the American past. She begins with anxiety for German immigrants in the colonial era, then moves onto Irish Catholics, the Chinese, southeastern Europeans, the Japanese, Mexicans, and Muslims. Lee demonstrates in her clear and engaging writing that the targets of hostility have evolved over time (the Europeans once considered threatening are now widely considered the "good immigrants" by xenophobes who try to restrict Mexicans and Muslims), yet xenophobia has remained constant from the eighteenth century through the present day. For all those who believe that the humane treatment of immigrants is a positive for the United States, as this author does, Lee has delivered a thoughtful and well-researched account of how Americans have often deviated from this so we can seek to avoid the mistakes of the past.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Professor Lee aptly describes it, the history of America is "the history of its violent xenophobia," which even today, "maintains a tenacious grip on the United States." "In both the past and present, xenophobes have argued that immigrants are threats. But its xenophobia, not immigration, that is our gravest threat today."

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erika Lee's America for Americans traces this country's long history of xenophobia, from colonial times to the present. Lee (The Making of Asian America) shows the strong continuity of immigrant baiting rhetoric and actions throughout history: German immigrants in the colonies were disreputable drunks spreading crime and disease, Irishmen of the early 1800s were disreputable drunks of dangerous religious faith spreading crime and disease (and also helping politicians steal elections), Chinese laborers were taking American jobs, Italian and Eastern Europe immigrants spreading radical political views to an unsuspecting public. Whereas anti-German sentiment was largely limited to heated rhetoric (and occasional antisemitic laws, with some viewing Germans as closet Jews), the Irish, Chinese and Italians were met with mob violence and bloodshed, as they were more easily codified as "other" due to racial and religious differences. The Immigration Act of 1924 put these prejudices into law, restricting the amount of immigrants from "undesirable" (read: nonwhite) countries and allowing American nativists to appropriate the label of "native" from Indigenous people. Later efforts to reform immigration met violent backlash, as other minority groups (Mexicans, Muslims, etc.) became the target of increasingly hysterical rhetoric and violence; screaming fears of immigrants "taking our jobs" and spreading crime and disease to the United States became mainstreamed in the press and politics, laying the groundwork for modern politicians to employ rhetoric as ugly as any 19th Century Know-Nothing. Lee's book is relatively surface-level in depicting specific eras and events, though in its breadth, clarity and readability it's nothing short of admirable.

[Sonny · Rating 5 out of 5]

The United States has not only been a nation of immigrants, it has also historically been the leading immigrant-receiving country. During the nineteenth century, 60 percent of the world’s immigrants came to America. It remained the chief immigrant-receiving country in the twentieth century. But the United States is also as nation of xenophobia, the fear and hatred of strangers, foreigners, and immigrants. Germans, Irish, Chinese, Italians, Japanese, Latinos, Eastern Europeans, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims have all been the targets of American hate and efforts to prevent them from entering the United States. While religion has often been a factor in determining which foreigners are targeted for discrimination, race has been “the single most important factor.” This is because xenophobia is a form of racism.

― “History shows that xenophobia has been a constant and defining feature of American life.”
― Erika Lee, America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States

Author and historian Erika Lee is a Professor of History at Harvard University. Previously, she was Director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota. She is also a past president of the Organization of American Historians. Lee is the granddaughter of Chinese immigrants.

In America for Americans, the author reviews the long history of xenophobia in the United States. If we are to overcome xenophobia in America, Lee says it’s important to know its complex history. Sadly, xenophobia continues to be injected into America’s politics. In her introduction, Lee recalls the 2016 Republican National Convention in which “the GOP platform, put forward by Donald Trump, was one of pure xenophobia.”

After a stunning introduction, Lee covers the history of xenophobia in the United States in nine chapters.

Chapter 1 - In one of the earliest instances of xenophobia, we find Benjamin Franklin lamenting the large number of “swarthy” foreigners that were flooding the colonies in pre-Revolutionary Pennsylvania. Who were these dark foreigners that earned Franklin’s ire in 1755? German immigrants. Their offense? They were “strangers to our language and constitutions.” The American colonies were English colonies, and the non-Englishness of the Germans was disturbing to many of the colonists. It was argued that they brought crime and poverty. Therefore, Franklin passionately argued that German immigration “was a danger that must be checked.” Pennsylvania’s concerns about German immigration led to some of the first immigration regulations in the colonies. Germans became the object of group-based discrimination that would become “one of the hallmarks of xenophobia in the United States.”

― “The arguments used against Germans established a template of anti-immigrant attitudes, prejudice, and rhetoric that would be repeated and refashioned for later immigrant groups.”
― Erika Lee, America for Americans

Chapter 2 - By the middle of the nineteenth century, a new group of immigrants was viewed as a threat to America—Catholics, especially Irish Catholics. This hate would give rise to a new political party, the anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic American Party, also known as the Know Nothing Party. Their hate would also lead to another common feature of xenophobia—conspiracy theories; the Know Nothings “were convinced that Catholic immigrants were part of a papal conspiracy to infiltrate America.” Many also believed that Catholics were interfering in elections. They also charged that Catholics were “criminals.” In Louisville, armed men gathered at polling stations to prevent immigrants from voting. They also set fire to German and Irish homes and businesses. Anti-Catholic laws were enacted in several states.

― “It was a heightened and almost hysterical fear that Catholic outsiders were intent on taking over the United States.”
― Erika Lee, America for Americans

Chapter 3 – In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the hatred of Chinese immigrants was particularly cruel and vicious. The charge against the Chinese was that they were criminals (sound familiar?) and undercut American workers. Their opponents also claimed that they never be able to become “Americans.” Some feared that the Chinese would occupy the entire west coast “to the exclusion of the white population.” Although the Chinese entering the United States were only a small fraction of the total number of immigrants, opponents eventually achieved their goal of legalized xenophobia with the passage of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. The act suspended Chinese immigration for ten years and declared Chinese immigrants ineligible for naturalization.

― “The Chinese Exclusion Act was supposed to be a temporary measure , but it ended up lasting for sixty-one years.”
― Erika Lee, America for Americans

Chapter 4 – By the late nineteenth century, a new group of immigrants became the target of race-based hatred: southern and eastern Europeans. This included Italians, Greeks, Slavs, Russians, Hungarians and Poles. The influx of these people led to the formation of the Immigration Restriction League (IRL). Their goal was to craft a new xenophobic message designed to influence policy. This group would embrace eugenics, the biological engineering of the nation’s population through direct state intervention. The IRL would directly lobby lawmakers to adopt immigration restrictions in order to manage the racial makeup of the nation.

― “But for the IRL, racial differences and superiority was not just a matter of white versus nonwhites. It was a matter of different kinds of whiteness.”
― Erika Lee, America for Americans

Chapter 5 – The Great Depression led to an effort to remove Mexicans from America by mass deportation, including naturalized citizens and those who were US citizens by birth. The charges against them were familiar: they were inferior; they were criminals; they took jobs from deserving Americans; they were likely “vermin infested.” They were even blamed for the mounting economic crisis.

― “…the construction of Mexicans as ‘illegal aliens’ applied not only to recent arrivals but to naturalized US citizens and American-born citizens as well.”
― Erika Lee, America for Americans

Chapter 6 – Most readers of history are familiar with the rise in anti-Japanese sentiment after Pearl Harbor. They are likewise acquainted with the internment of Japanese Americans, without trial. Two-thirds of those incarcerated were American-born citizens. The US government invoked “military necessity.” But you might not know that the US government also orchestrated the forceable deportation of individuals of Japanese descent in Latin American countries. They were brought to the United States and many of them were sent to Japan in exchange for American citizens in Japan. After the war, they were charged with being in the US without permission! One thousand were deported to Japan; many of whom had never been to Japan. None of them had been charged with crimes, and none of them were ever given hearings. But then anti-Asian sentiment in the US had existed for many years.

― “They represented less than one-tenth of one percent of the total US population, but they had long been victims of a powerful anti-Japanese xenophobia that portrayed them as a national security threat even before Pearl Harbor.”
― Erika Lee, America for Americans

Chapter 7 – The 1965 Immigration Act abolished the discriminatory national origins quotas, a highly restrictive and quantitatively discriminatory system that had existed in the US since 1924 and gave preference to skills. But it only “masked the perseverance of xenophobia” that existed in America, even during the civil rights era. While setting many things right, the law imposed a ceiling on immigration from the Western Hemisphere. This led to a dramatic increase in the number of immigrants entering the US without authorization. Why? Many American employers relied on labor from Mexico.

― “At a time when the United States emphasized its virtues of freedom and democracy over the totalitarianism of communism, the unequal treatment of immigrants based on race exposed the hypocrisy in American immigration regulation.”
― Erika Lee, America for Americans

Chapter 8 – Since the middle of the 20th century, race continued to fuel xenophobia. The continuing war on immigration fueled a proliferation of stereotypical depictions of Mexicans and Mexican Americans linking them to crime and poverty. The phrase “illegal aliens” was often used to refer to Mexicans. Xenophobia had been legitimized as a powerful tool in American politics, framing undocumented immigrants as violent criminals. The chapter also demonstrates how much the Obama and Clinton administrations did to curb illegal immigration—efforts that few conservatives recognize.

― “By the early twenty-first century, the xenophobic message that Mexican immigration was endangering America had become so normalized that it helped propel Donald Trump to the White House in 2016.”
― Erika Lee, America for Americans

Chapter 9 – This chapter addresses growing Islamophobia in the United States. By the twenty-first century, many Americans had developed an unfavorable opinion of Islam. Americans saw Islam as more violent than other faiths. This led to an irrational hate and fear of Muslims. Although the fear of Islam grew after 9/11, the author shows that Islamophobia had a long history in the US. In the years after 9/11, more than 200,000 Arabs and Muslims were registered and tracked by US officials. Not one committed an act of terrorism; instead, many of them were the victims of hate crimes.

― “Their small number underscores the irrationality and symbolic nature of Islamophobic rhetoric and politics.”
― Erika Lee, America for Americans

Epilogue to the Paperback Edition – The epilogue demonstrates how the COVID-19 pandemic amplified xenophobia in the US. Anti-Asian hate incidents rose dramatically. President Trump’s actions during the pandemic, including his racist use of the phrase “China virus” and his “blame China” approach, unnecessarily made xenophobia a key part of the nation’s response. It increased division at a time when unity was needed. These actions exacerbated the pandemic and cost lives. Trump also took advantage of the health crisis to implement new, extreme and harmful immigration policies.

― “The pandemic also occurred under a divisive president who spread misinformation, politicized the public health cry, and promoted xenophobia and racism.”
― Erika Lee, America for Americans

In her book America for Americans, author Erika Lee shows that an irrational fear, hatred, and hostility toward immigrants has been a defining feature of our nation from the colonial era to the present day. Lee provides a comprehensive survey of xenophobia in America. Every page is filled with the evidence. While there are those who might see hatred as a thing of the past, Lee makes it clear that xenophobia has continued to the present day. This is a must-read for every American who envisions a kinder, gracious, more race-tolerant future for America.

[Sahitya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed history of how xenophobia is a part of America’s ethos since the days before the Revolutionary war to the present - only the way it is propagated has changed its face. The author’s writing style can feel a bit dry, but the book is full of eye opening historical events that need to be remembered and taught, and especially not glossed over anymore.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A disturbing journey through America's history of xenophobia, including this latest wave at the time of publication (2018).

Page 143: In his unpublished sequel to Mein Kampf, drafted in 1928, Hitler applauded the [U.S.] 1924 Immigration Act as an effort to exclude the "foreign body" of "strangers to the blood" of the ruling race. The United States' recommitment to being a "Nordic-German" state was to be commended. America became, in Hitler's view, a racial model for Europe.

Indeed.

[Persis · Rating 4 out of 5]

America is a nation of immigrants but also a nation with a history of xenophobia. Lee walks us through the history of the latter and how being an "American" was defined and who had the power to make those definitions. If you want to maintain an idealistic view of our country, this will be a difficult book to read. However, we need to be honest about our history IMO for there to be any substantive change in how we treat one another. As Christians we also have to wrestle with the fact that we have heavenly citizenship as well as earthly and the values of Christ's kingdom should determine how we live here and now.

[Drew Reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read.

I have had this book on my "Want to Read" list since I first heard about it in a Politico article in May. I anxiously awaited its release, until I was able to get a copy of it last week.

Professor Lee does a fantastic job at summarizing the history of America's Anti-Immigration movement and policies. I'd urge anyone with a passion for immigration justice or social justice to give this a read.

[Kayla]

Not giving a star rating because I read this over several months so my memory is a bit fuzzy. Also I feel like we should've learned more about what this book covers in secondary school, just saying.

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is clearly inspired by the age of Trump. While the US likes to see itself as a nation of immigrants, Lee notes the counter-tendency is also true and deeply part of our national history: a history of xenophobia.

She traces the early days of it, from Ben Franklin opposing Germans (only to see Germans mobilize at the ballot box), the Know-Nothing opposition to Catholics, the late 19th century anti-Chinese movement (which created the first classification of immigrating illegal), to the "scientific racism of the IRL which led to the quota acts.

The book gets off to a slow start, but comes alive more in the last 100 years. She discussing the anti-Mexican movement and racial marginization that led to widespread deportations during the Great Depression. The WWII anti-Japanese actions were predated by decades of "Yellow Peril" rhetoric.

The best parts focus on the recent era of immigration: 1965-onward. Lee notes how opponents of the landmark 1965 act denounced it for possibly letting the "wrong" races in - while defenders didn't try to rebut the racism, just said it wouldn't let in many Asians or Africans. At this time, Plymouth Rock gave way to Ellis Island as central to Americans self-identity. By 2000, Mexico made up 30% of all immigrants, but there was an increasing visa backlog in Mexico. It could take up to 9 years (!!) to get a visa to come to the US. By 2012, 1.2 million Mexicans were waiting on a visa. Also, Lee makes one very interesting point I hadn't realized about the 1965 act: it actually reduced the level of Mexicans coming here. Under the bracero program from the 1940s to 1964, 4.6 million guest workers came. The new cap was 20,000 Mexicans (by 1976). The worldwide cap was 290,000 (reduced to 270,000 in 1980). Mexico had equal status to Togo - which defies common sense. It led to what Lee describes as discrimination under the guise of non-discrimination. Also, family reunification standards for the two hemispheres wasn't the same. For the other one, it applied to citizens and permanent residents. But it was just permanent residents for western hemisphere migrants.

In recent decades, Lee draws a direct line from Prop 187 to Trump. The idea of illegal immigration was established by the late 1970s. Prop 187 linked illegal immigrants to crime. There was an old tradition of "good" and "bad" immigrants which was racialized more than ever. Buchanan fretted over white displacement. Bill Clinton sought to be tough on immigration, combining it with criminal policy ("crimmingration"). Border patrols went up. The idea of Mexicans as a criminal invasion long preceded Trump and his border wall.

Trump's Muslim ban opposes ALL immigrants, not just illegal ones. Negative stereotypes for Arabs and Muslims were well in place by the 1990s. Islamaphobia was intertwined with groups like Fox News - or even the New York Times. In this book, Trump doesn't come out of nowhere - he's the result of trends both recent and long-lasting in America.

In an epilogue Lee notes that opposing xenophobia is also an American tradition, and hopes it wins out. But she's annoyed how even defenders of immigrants do it in half-measures, and how we now let xenophobes set the debate by talking of border security over all else. I think she makes some good points here, but I think she goes a bit far - politicians gonna politician.

I give it 4 stars, but it's close to 5 stars. The opening chapters really were a bit of a rehash of things I already knew. The best part was the section on the 1965 Act and how it hurt Mexican immigrants. Overall, it's a great book.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-researched, timely, and thorough examination of the United States’ established and violent history of state-sanctioned xenophobia. As Lee deftly demonstrates, “Xenophobia has never been fully excised from the United States, it has merely evolved.” Many Americans often tout the United States as “a nation of immigrants,” despite deporting more immigrants than any other nation since 1882 (55 million+), which enables a damaging historical amnesia to persist. Lee argues, “It is time to reset the terms of the debate [about immigration and xenophobia],” and this book is certainly an excellent way to reset and reframe that debate.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for all Americans!

[vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense and detailed, but clear-eyed and well-researched. Lee’s argument is one I’ve explored in college courses: the target for xenophobia changes over time, but there is always a target. From the 1700s to now, it’s gone from specific Western countries (Germans, Italians, the Irish) to Eastern countries, Asians, Latinos, and people of the Middle East. Sometimes the target is focused on race, sometimes on religion. I think Lee is pretty convincing that we may say we’re the nation of immigrants, but our rhetoric and policies show different. I learned so much, about how the Chinese Exclusion Act started it all and how incomparable immigration by white Europeans in the 1700-1920s is to nonwhites 1800s-now. Very informative, not dry, but very full.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting study. I wanted to read it because it is a big survey of America over time, and big surveys of America over time are what I need to teach US History class. Basically I was hoping this would help me think about how to work in xenophobia into the long arc of the survey class.
The useful thing here that Lee wants us to do, is reorient our thinking from ebbs and flows of xenophobia to more or less constant xenophobia. The whole idea that America was founded on immigration, and these flare ups of xenophobia are just sort of aberrations that we experience and then stamp out temporarily - that is not the way to think about it. Xenophobia has always co-existed with a more welcoming idea about immigration. They are both always present. Lee points out that xenophobia is profitable and productive - it makes money for businesses and wins political campaigns, from colonial times through the 19th and 20th centuries to today. Immigration is profitable, and attacking immigrants is profitable. They go together. There is always something to be made from identifying one group of people as not "real" Americans. There is always an eager audience for this.
One thing that I learned from this that I thought was fascinating was the way the US managed to export its xenophobia to other countries. I knew that Canada and Mexico took a cue from the anti-Chinese stuff of the 19th century, but I never knew that Peru rounded up thousands of Japanese-Peruvians and deported them to American internment during WWII. Some of these poor people went from Peru to detention camps in Texas to being sent back to Japan in "civilian exchanges." This is all basically at the request of the US government, who decided that for the "security of the hemisphere" they had to meddle with Japanese immigrant populations all over the Americas. Yeesh. I already knew that the USA's treatment of Japanese Americans during the war was deplorable, but it just gets worse and worse.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

America for Americans is an incredibly thorough and comprehensive history of xenophobia in the US, focusing on its (anti) immigration policies as well as its racist laws for people living in the country. I have read a lot of excellent nonfiction this year that deal with racism in some form, but I think this is the best of the year, at least unless it is topped prior to January 1st. I think I would be so bold as to say that if you only select one book about the history of racist policies in the US, make it this one. Erika Lee was able to cover sooo much in this book, and also to write it in a way that made it engaging and interesting, not like a boring schoolbook. She completely dispels the myth of America as a "nation of immigrants"- I previously had the wrong impression that our country's xenophobia and anti-immigration policies were a more recent phenomenon. I knew that there had been policies against people from certain countries at various points in history, but I had no idea just how far back our xenophobia went. Our history is even uglier than I realized. I listened to the audio on Libby, but I will be adding a physical copy it to my Wishlist.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lee offers an insightful examination of the troubling truth that the United States, known as a nation of immigrants, is also a nation of xenophobia, and the reasons for this disturbing paradox. She reveals that an irrational fear, hatred, and hostility toward immigrants is a defining feature of our nation from the colonial era to the Trump administration. A finely detailed, compelling, and accessible history.

[Mindy Greiling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvelous research revealing deep, integrated cross currents of sustained xenophobia in the United States. It made me sad to see so clearly that it isn't just the Donald Trumps.

[Em Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Necessary, required reading.

[Ben M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best way to summarize this book is the more things change, the more they stay the same, as some of the same anti-immigration feelings present around the country today seemed to exist throughout the US's history, along with the same tactics used to rally the public and government to act (forming lobbying groups and using the media to spread lies and misinformation), with only the era and victims of xenophobia changing.

The book progresses through US history highlighting different groups and the xenophobia they faced, from the Germans in colonial times, to the Catholics in the mid-1800's, to the Chinese in the later 1800's, Northern and Western Europeans in the early 1900's, Mexicans throughout the 1900's, Japanese in the mid-1900's, and Muslims in the 2000's. While the book provides a good history lesson on the different groups targeted during different eras, it fails to fully connect all the dots. The book often refers to the lies and misinformation spread by the oppressors, but rarely demonstrates or disproves these lies. And as the chapters on the various targeted groups ends, it is never really explained what caused the public sentiment to shift. While obviously a lot of xenophobia is still present today, how did the anti-German, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-Japanese xenophobia of the past end? Also, the book doesn't really distinguish between legal and illegal immigration at all, as it lumps them both together and labels opponents of illegal immigration just as xenophobic as those of all immigration. I feel there was the opportunity here for some great insights, information, rebuttals that the author didn't even attempt to address.

The book is clearly anti-xenophobia, pro-immigration, but serves as more of an interesting history lesson, than something that will provide ammo to help you change somebody's mind or disprove their false claims.

[Jenny Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of xenophobia on America, focused specifically on the tensions surrounding immigration. While I was generally familiar with the ways various immigrant groups experienced a pattern of vilification and blame followed eventually by assimilation and acceptance to some degree (dependent on the group’s ability to “become” white), having the historical trajectory serve as the focal point is an effective way to get a better sense of how xenophobia helps to explain repeating historical patterns, and this point towards ways to disrupt those patterns.

Personally, I learned about the way Chinese immigrants were intimidated and forced out of their homes and businesses in Tacoma and Seattle in 1885-86, something I never learned about growing up the Seattle area and taking Washington State History. I also learned that when the US government placed Japanese Americans in internment camps during WWII, there was also a program run by the US to gather Japanese immigrants from west coast countries throughout the Americas, focused especially on Peru. These people were brought to America and confined (over 2000) with the justification that they could be a threat to the safety of the West; the unofficial justification included the fact that they could be traded to Japan for American POWs if needed.

Lee is articulate and persuasive, and her project is well researched and argued. Recommended for anyone working on anti racism, and anyone interested in US history, or history generally.

[Ellis Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for my Paideia 111 class and it prompted so many great discussions. When I first started the book, it was very interesting and explored areas of American history that I had never talked about before. As I kept reading, I got sort of bored of the book because it was repeating the same thing over and over again. But that's just how the story of Xenophobia in the US goes, we just keep choosing a new group of immigrants to hate. I liked how this book talked about some of the big issues in America that people choose not to talk about because it hurts the reputation of the United States. We need to learn about these issues so we can have a greater understanding of them, and then work to solve them. I finished this book in the same week that Trump was reelected into office for the second time, and it was good material to read to reinforce how dangerous this presidency could be. It was interesting to discuss this in class leading up to and around the election, especially with the result. America is built from immigrants, but also has been xenophobic since the very beginning. And seeing the current political climate, it is still a huge part of American culture and politics. Americans really seem to like to decide who gets to be American.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best historical works teach us about the present while visiting the past. Erika Lee does this masterfully in America For Americans. It’s impossible to read this book without reflecting on the news headlines of recent years. America’s current obsessive fear of “illegal aliens” is simply the latest chapter of a long, repetitive and sorrowful saga. I wish this could be required reading for every policy maker—or, at least, for a lot more citizens of this unique country of immigrants.

[Heidi Lange · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-read. In the acknowledgements, the author states that writing this book made her literally sick at times, and I can understand. The hatred and cruelty behind the ubiquitous xenophobia is tough to take at times. I found the stories of Japanese Peruvians particularly difficult to wrap my head around. But this is history that needs to be known.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish there was more from the immigrant perspective. The chapter on the Japanese internment camps did a great job at pulling in the stories of those affected. Overall, very important book on how ingrained xenophobia is within America

[Miles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a broad topic, and Erika Lee provides great coverage of it. However, parts occasionally feel glossed over and incomplete. Still you can’t fault this too much given the vastness of the subject matter