All the Nations Under Heaven: An Ethnic and Racial History of New York City

I read this book as part of a graduate course on the history of New York City atLong Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y. This book tries to include brief and factual history of all of N.Y.'s immigrant groups. It also covers the various waves of immigration. A good book for a multicultural perspective on New York City.

In this extremely well-researched book, Reimers and Binder attempt a task of Herculean difficulty: condensing over three centuries of New York City's immigration history into a 330 page book. Despite the inevitable shortcomings, their work puts forth a cohesive synthesis of the immigrant struggle in a bustling metropolis. Beginning with the Dutch settlements of the 1620's and ending with a general commentary on the state of NYC immigration in the present, the authors chronicle a tale of general stability in the face of internal fluctuation. Reading this book, one can't help but remember the old adage--the more things change, the more they stay the same--and the description fits the story of NYC immigration perfectly. Cyclical in nature, the history of New York's immigration is one of hard labor, (geographic)displacement of a previous immigrant group and a general assimilation of culture--usually in that order. Professors Reimers and Binder show us that although the face of New York City immigration may periodically change, the immigrant struggles and reality of urban life never do.