Ethnic America: A History by Thomas Sowell

Ethnic America: A History Reviews

• 
  Montzalee Wittmann

  Ethnic America
  By: Thomas Sowell
  Narrated by: James Bundy
  
  This book was recommended to me by someone and I am glad they did. I was able to pick the audible version up free from Audible because I have a membership and it's on the Plus catalog.
  
  This book goes through each of the main groups of Immigrant population that has come to America. It follows the group as a whole through the years describing the difficulties, the places they moved to, jobs, education, what they contributed to America, male to female ratio, and so much more. There is invaluable information on each!
  
  It really is astounding how thorough this book is. The only thing I disagree with in here is when he cites the IQ tests. We know now that IQ tests are often based on knowledge of the society you are familiar with. To give a test to a foreign child that has no knowledge of Western society is ridiculous.
  
  Other than this, the book is a terrific book about each society and how it weaves together to make America, for better or worse. We can't change the past but we can change the future! There were prejudices against each of these groups. Not a shiny moment for us when every one of us, except the Native Americans, were from foreigners themselves. There is still that population that harbors hate towards minorities. Minorities made America!
• 
  Rob Altemare

  Excellent read. How can a guy take such deep and specific technical data and weave it into a fascinating story? Thomas Sowell is one of the most brilliant men in America. Even back in 1986 (or thereabouts) when this story was written, he's already honed his unique ability to make hard data completely fascinating. Amazing!
• 
  Nicko

  Each immigrant group has changed in America, and American society has changed in many ways. The most dramatic example is that today there are people sitting in Congress and on the Supreme Court whose ancestors were brought here as slaves. Among the world's leading scientific, political, and economic figures today are Americans whose immigrant ancestors were once dismissed as 'the beaten men of beaten races.' Nothing has so vindicated the untapped potential of ordinary people as the American experience.
• 
  A

  Great book I should have read ages ago. Sowell tells the story of America's major ethnic groups like a Detective who worked the beat, and then retired a Librarian-Archivist. There's little to no dearth of detail, but he's an Academic (Economist) not a Dramatist (warning to those easily overwhelmed by long-winded data interpretation).
  
  In his Ethnic America Sowell tracks the origins of each ethnic group from the circumstances and conditions that drove or forced them from their homelands through their upward mobility within the predominant Anglo American paradigm upon arrival to the United States with methodical consideration. This isn't the short and sweet Anglicized version of U.S. History I got in grade school, but a portrait that does justice to the peoples who sacrificed, endured, and are now part of the American fabric.
  
  While these stories have been told time and again I like how Sowell brought just about everything he could under one hood. Of course Sowell's approach could no doubt be called broad, but take into account that groups were far less diverse and far more united in cultural patterns than today. Hence making a book like this possible, and valuable for understanding this past and how it shaped our present. Although he does acknowledge diversity where it occurs.
  
  I did thoroughly enjoy this for the material, and I also feel it's an important contribution to American History. I recommend it for anyone interested in our cultural origins and legacies, whether teacher or student of social science or just researching your own familial past trying to get a picture how things were.
  
  Unfortunately there are no citations in the Audiobook, but anyone with enough interest should be able to locate government and other primary archived sources to follow along. Those not inclined towards Sowell's political views shouldn't be deterred, this is a straight telling and it isn't until the final chapter where he provides his own thoughts on causality.
• 
  David

  Ethnic America: A History by Thomas Sowell is another excellent work by the distinguished economist that traces the history of nine major American ethnic groups -- the Irish, Germans, Jews, Italians, Chinese, Japanese, African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans. He researched each group individually from their living conditions in their home countries to why they felt the need to come to America and details how they made the journey and adapted to their new country. This method lets us see similarities and differences in how or if these ethnic groups became proud Americans; some taking longer than others. Professor Sowell also presents many of the general immigration laws and discusses why and how they changed over many years in reaction to experiences with some of these groups. As is his usual custom, he digs to find and organize and presents the facts along with his analysis and commentary about what he has found. For each ethnic group he also explores how things changed from the first generation that chose to leave their home countries to come here and how quickly subsequent generations adapted to being fully absorbed into American culture, sometimes shocking their parents. Very well written as is commonly expected with any book by Dr. Thomas Sowell!
• 
  Ari

  America is full of distinct ethnic groups. They have had substantially different experiences. This is a compare-and-contrast of nine such groups: The Irish, Italians, Germans, Jews, Chinese, Japanese, African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans. He is particularly interested in the extent to which groups prospered in America, how they did it, and how their group history and cultural tendencies influenced their trajectory.
  
  This was first published around 1980 and it shows. For one, Sowell's word choice jars a modern reader. For another, the different white ethnic groups are noticeably less distinct now than they were then. For a third, there have been important inflection points in the Black and Hispanic experience since 1980.
  
  On the other hand, because Sowell was writing in a different era, he is much blunter about historical aspects we would today try to brush past without engaging. He spends a fair bit of time talking about cleavages within the black community, specifically the West Indian community vs the "old" northern Black community vs people whose families were enslaved until 1865. In Sowell's account these groups had shockingly little mixing down to 1980 and a wildly disproportionate part of the Black leadership was the middle group. (Sowell doesn't mention it, but his family were the last of these groups.)
  
  Even the basic structure of the book feels alien to a 2020 reader. We have the notion that it is at best impolite, and at worst bigoted, to generalize about ethnic groups. But I think this is a notion we should push past. Culture is a real thing and ethnic history is a real thing and it's impossible to talk about either without talking about cultural traits.
  
  There are some striking patterns and paradoxes that caught my eye.
  
  - The Irish very quickly had a preeminent position in urban politics and the Catholic Church -- from the mid 19th century to the mid 20th, both were dominated by the Irish, even though they were a fairly small fraction of the population and even a minority of the Catholic population. Sowell attributes this to their high degree of ethnic consciousness, long experience having "shadow" institutions under British rule and cultural affinity to Anglo-American institutions.
  
  - In 1900, American organized crime wasn't Italian. To the extent that the Italians took it over in the '20s and '30s, they had to out-compete the incumbents. Sowell points out that the Italians had the reputation of drinking less, brawling less, having tighter-knit families and clans, and responding violently when pushed too far -- all which were comparative advantages in crime.
  
  - There is a widespread view (I often see it said today) that education is the ticket to advancement. Sowell dissents. He argues that almost every ethnic group he profiles was moving up in wealth well before its members started going to college in large numbers. Education in his view is the consequence, not the cause, of advancement. Instead he points to hard work and accumulation of capital. and particularly accumulation of social capital.
  
  - In particular, there are a number of cases where particular industries had a pronounced ethnic tilt. The pre-made pre-sized clothing industry was (in Sowell's account) a creation of Jewish sweatshop workers. The contract gardening industry was more or less invented by Japanese Californians. And of course the American industrial brewing industry was dominated by Germans starting in the 19th century. And the Napa wine industry had a distinctly Italian bent to it.
  
  In all these cases, the capital required is relatively small, the barriers to entry aren't very high, and there was no particular reason other groups couldn't have gotten into the business -- but they didn't. And once a particular group starts to dominate, there are network effects. People teach their cousins to do it, they have suppliers who speak their language, and so forth. Sowell hints that something similar might be happening with the Irish control of the US Catholic church.
  
  This has important practical corollaries. It says that if you are in an ethnic group and want to promote prosperity for your group, you should be thinking about group strategies, and particularly about a sort of group "industrial policy" -- picking some economic activity where you can create and deploy social capital to create value and keep it for your people.
  
• 
  James Henderson

  Ethnic America is a unique portrait of the great American ethic mosaic. Thomas Sowell relates the history of immigrants from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and how this history was unique for each group. Within the larger geographic groups he identifies specific ethnic groups that include Irish, German, Chinese, Japanese, Puerto Ricans, Blacks, and others. He analyzes each group providing background context and the results of their success or lack of success in integrating and becoming a part of American culture. His perspective is eye-opening and the results provide both answers and challenges for the interested reader. As a result it has become a favorite of mine for its fascinating exploration of different ethnic groups and their story in America including their struggles and contributions.
• 
  Haowei Chen

  一直以来就对美国所谓“种族熔炉”的概念不以为然。事实上，美国社会虽然在法律层面废除了种族隔离制度，但这种深入到每个人骨髓的思维��从来没有根除。来过美国的朋友们都知道，美国城市中最典型的诸如中国城、越南城、黑人区、老墨区这类种族聚居的城市形态就不用多说了，就连白种人内部，爱尔兰裔、意大利裔、希腊裔、犹太人、波斯人、阿拉伯裔等等亚族群也通常是井水不犯河水，长期以来不通婚、不杂居，这种现象直到最近几十年才得以缓解。去年年底，有幸探访了南美，才真正见识到什么叫种族的熔炉。街头见到的人们，肤色从最白到最黑，包含期间每一个渐变色；夫妻情侣也是什么肤色组合都有。回到这本书，正如老罗为中译本作的序中所说，这是一部值得每一个来美国学习工作的同学仔细品读的经典著作。
• 
  Anna

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• 
  Gavin

  This is another 5 star book from Thomas Sowell.
  Sowell writes about ethnic groups in America. He dedicates a chapter to the Irish, Germans, Jews Italians Chinese, Japanese, Blacks, Puerto-ricans, and Mexicans. He illuminates how differences in behavior are best explained by the cultures and values of these ethnic groups. The immediate environment which included hardships and discrimination seems to have little influence on the behavior of these groups.
  
  Sowell's writing does not sugarcoat the issues. He explains with amazing clarity how different groups and cultures are better in some areas and worse in others. He separates cause and effect analysis from moral analysis.
  
  It is a fascinating book.
  
• 
  Zhijing Jin

  This book compiles many facts about different ethnic groups in the US. Very, very, very helpful.
  
  
  Important facts:
  1) There is no majority
  15% British
  13% German
  11% black
  
  2) Don't ignore the land area
  - Texas is larger than France
  - Colorado is larger than the UK
  - Italy equals 2/3 of California
  
  3) Large difference across groups
  - Mexican & Porto Rico: average <20 years old
  - Ireland & Italy: ~30 years old
  - Jew: >40 years old
  - Not to mention income, occupation, unemployment rate, crime rate, birth rate.
  
  Income
  - Jew: 172%
  - Japanese: 132%
  - Mexican: 76%
  - Perto Rico: 63%
  - Black: 62%
  - Native Indian: 60%
  
• 
  Jim B

  Sowell's tracing the history of assimilation of nine American ethnic groups (Irish, German, Jewish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Blacks--slave and later free, Puero Rican, and Mexican) helps the reader understand the cycle of large groups from a nationality arriving and adapting in America. Every American should read this book in order to discuss immigration or to ponder the race issue in America.
• 
  John Jennings

  While I certainly emphasize different outcomes and solutions than Sowell might, I can't deny that his coverage of significantly more sifted data- addressing comparisons leveled by age, education level, or location- is incredibly helpful when questioning my own biases. This is my third book by him so far, and I really respect his consistency in allowing nuance in his argument, presenting data as it is- often unsure with multiple stories- and not a linear narrative.
• 
  Michael Perkins

  I am reading this book by Hans Rosling and I now see it calls into question the accuracy of this book. Too many generalizations and the false notion that the past is prologue to more of the same.
  
  
  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
  
  Also true of "The Fate of Africa" by Martin Meredith.
• 
  Sylvester

  Ethnic America is an examination of how well the 7 major groups of American immigrants are doing relatively. It was a nice read, particularly the chapters on the Japanese, Puerto Ricans and the Easter European Jews.
• 
  Giulia Paris

  Wow, it is amazing how just every ethnic cluster mentioned in he book suffered when they first came here. I feel like the boook might have been a bit biased like against the irish, but otherwise it is very engaging and with many interesting statistics.
• 
  Anthony

  “人类简史-美国版”：一本理解美国与“美国人”的入门书。
  
  本书通过详实的史料与数据回答我们：一群来自不同种族、有着不同文化背景、宗教信仰、生活习惯的人在来到一块完全陌生的土地能否融洽相处？有哪些因素能促使他们尽快融入并向上流动？不同人群、种族之间的误会、歧视与隔阂如何才能消除？
  
  对于一个来自汉文化占绝对多数、缺少种族观念的海外游子来说，本书帮助我理解现实和隐藏的偏见，发现我们自己的与众不同，由此在现今不断流动的全球化世界中找到立身之处。
• 
  Eclaghorn

  Great big book of facts. Love how Sowell doesn't spend a lot of time telling you what he thinks but rather how things are.
• 
  Kathryn Davidson

  The book first starts with the scale of America. “Today, there are more people of Irish ancestry in the United States than in Ireland, more Jews than in Israel, more blacks than in most African countries. There are more people of Polish ancestry in Detroit than in most of the leading cities in Poland, and more than twice as many people of Italian ancestry in New York as in Venice. … The United States is one of the largest cultural-linguistic units in the history of the world. From San Francisco to Boston is the same distance as from Madrid to Moscow. Yet here there is one language, one set of laws, and one economy in an area that, in Europe, is fragmented into a multitude of nations, languages, and competing military and political blocs. The size and cohesion of the American society is all the more remarkable because of the diverse origins of the people who make it up. As a unified nation, the United States is older than Germany or Italy. As for size, Texas is larger than France, Colorado is larger than Great Britain, and Italy is only two-thirds the size of California. The United States as a whole is larger than the Roman Empire at is greatest expansion.” It then goes into the immigration patterns from various regions, showing how different cultural and historical elements influenced people in terms of both affinities and aversions, as well as how each immigrant group rose up the socioeconomic ladder they became allergic to the poorer immigrants who came after them, even if they were from the same region. It shows how reviewing averages can mask important data between the generations. It debunks the myth that education is what causes upward mobility (most groups only invested in education that after they were affluent enough to afford to invest in it). The data indicate that location, location, location and age may be the most important factors in terms of earnings (urban areas and older workers tend to do better). An educational read. Would love to see an updated version which encompasses the last 40 years.
• 
  Steve

  Enjoyable and surprisingly fresh, even though it was published in 1981 and many of the stats are from the 1970s. Economist Sowell makes the case that though the various immigrant groups to the US endured similar challenges including poverty, lack of education, and discrimination, each brought with it attitudes and behavioral patterns shaped over centuries that influenced ways in which they adapted to their new country. Thus the Irish, unified by generations of outside oppression in Ireland, mobilized to take over politically in cities across the US in the 1800s. Italian immigrants, having no similar unifying outside oppression, took much longer to exert their influence on American political life. Sowell uses stats to show that when we control for factors such as age and geography, many of the stereotypes about different groups wash out. He also makes clear that generalizations across groups can do great harm to individuals within that group, as W.E.B. Dubois well understood. The last chapter, in which Sowell discusses the benefits of looking at our history through an economic and not just moral framework, was the most inspiring. In today's emotionally and politically-charged atmosphere, it is more important than ever to base our beliefs on the best empirical data we have.
• 
  Sosen

  Being smart is hard and takes a very long time. This is a punishing read, not what I expected from Sowell; then again, it's one of his earliest books, not meant for the slightly wider audience that his later works are. The amount of knowledge contained within this book is staggering, and its fact-based approach leaves little room for disagreement with Sowell's carefully considered conclusions. "The moralistic approach sees only society's belated change to doing the right thing. It ignores the possibility that the Irish who are accepted today may be very different from the nineteenth-century emigrants from Ireland whose personal behavior would still be wholly unacceptable to others today, including today's Irish Americans". He pulls no punches, particularly with the Irish, Puerto-Ricans, and African-Americans. He explains why the statistics about these groups are often misleading; for instance, oft-cited statistics about a group's graduation rates usually don't account for the prestige of the schools that those groups graduate from. Sowell tends to praise the work ethic of Germans, Jews, and the Japanese, and uses them as examples of how discrimination can be overcome with hard work. Speaking of hard work, this book is hard. The chapters are very repetitive. Even the overview gets a little tiresome. It's not necessary to read every word of the book. Focus on the histories that interest you, and make sure to read the last few pages.
• 
  Don

  location matters even by neighborhood, oppressive laws against Irish started in Ireland, Irish Hells Kitchen, German indentured servants bought/sold, 1902 first jewish HS grad NYC, Chinese with less than 10% divorce, Irish famine 1840’s, Feb42 FDR western US only not Hawaii Japanese Americans imprisoned in rural prison camps 300k with support of courts and aclu until late 44 overturned in courts, Jewish and Japanese excelled in US after much discrimination Chinese too and none via political action, arabs most cruel to blacks during slavery era, Booker Washington goals were best for blacks, Puerto Rico hurricane, Mexican revolution of 1909 killed 1m, 1m Mexicans expelled in 1954, history happens, cannot compare progress with varying goals, those held back some resulted in communist pursuits.
• 
  Atul

  Fantastic book. I have read many of Sowell’s books already, but this book taught me tons of things about America’s ethnic groups that I had never heard of previously.
  
  Sowell emphasizes cultural differences as the primary reason for disparities between ethnic groups, as opposed to racist theories of “genetic ability” and modern theories of “oppression” and “exploitation”.
  
  As Sowell mentions, the story of ethnic groups in America is ultimately a very human one. In other words, American ethnic history is not one that can be explained by simplistic theories, but a deeply complex one that has a lot to do with human, cultural differences between groups.
  
  I strongly recommend this book. Even if you already know a lot about American ethnic groups (which I did), you will learn a lot from reading it.
• 
  Seth

  Simply fascinating, I can't imagine the amount of research this man had to go threw before publishing this. If you were ever curious as to how different ethnicity's fared on American soil look no further.
  Sowell does an excellent job describing their religion, occupations, standards, cultures and even elaborating on stats about which groups voted towards left and right. This book also holds lots of neat facts that are appreciated.
  
  The only reason I give it a 4 is because in this book, he states that a German man(Thomas Nast I believe?) is credited with CREATING the elephant and donkey for the political party's AND that this man created the typical white bearded man we recognize as Santa. A simple google search showed me that that's not true. So who knows how many of these other little facts he hits you with may be mistaken?
  Regardless a fabulous book, highly recommended.