Rudolph J. Vecoli

A century of European migrations, 1830-1930

This volume is the outcome of a symposium held in Wayzata Minnesota November 6-9 1986. It contains 16 papers on various aspects of migration from Europe to North America during the period 1830-1930. The papers are divided into five parts which are concerned with macroperspectives; microanalysis including chain migration with studies concerning migration from Finland the Netherlands Norway and Hungary and to Pittsburgh; two case studies concerning Quebec and northwestern Italy; return migration; and ideologies and migrants. (ANNOTATION)

Book Review: Migrations and Cultures: A World ViewMigrations and Cultures: A World View. By SowellThomas. New York: Basic Books, 1996. Pp. 516.

The Enquete-Komrnission report for the Bundestag is wide-ranging, covering topics from worldwide population growth and reasons for refugee flows to an examination of how continued immigration will affect the German labor market and the financing of pay-as-you-go pensions. The report has two major conclusions: 1) the German policy of discouraging asylum seekers by limiting their access to the labor market and to social welfare makes those asylum applicants ever more dependent on government; and 2) Germany should do more to promote integration, but government action should be limited to establishing a level playing field the. government should avoid affirmative action. Angenendts three-chapter book is a nonstatistical analogue to the Muenz, Seiffert and Ulrich book. Instead of opening with the history of German migration, it begins with a review of migration pressures around the world, covering demographic, economic, ecological, etc. reasons for migration, and then migration patterns in southern and eastern Europe, ex-USSR, and North Africa, Angenendt then turns to issues raised by migration to Germany, concluding a section on the labor market consequences of immigration by suggesting that reducing payroll taxes, which in Germany can add 30 to 50 percent to hourly wages, could reduce for German employers the attractiveness of illegal alien workers (p. 65). Chapter 2 provides a detailed discussion of the asylum compromise of 1993, which preserved an individuals right to seek asylum in the German Constitution, but limited the circumstances under which an individual could apply for asylum, e.g., individuals who passed through safe third countries en route to Germany were obliged to apply for asylum there. Angenendt argues that the 1993 asylum compromise does not provide Germany with a durable immigration policy and in chapter 3 lays out legal, foreign and domestic criteria for a durable migration policy. The eight-part book Migration und Integration, edited by Angenendt, ranges widely, including contributions on historical migrations, current migrations to and from southern Europe and north Africa, and reactions to migration in Germany. About twothirds of the chapters deal with international relations and migration, and several are translated contributions of organizations such as UNHCR.

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* Migration Patterns * Germans around the World * Japanese around the World * Italians around the World * The Overseas Chinese * Jews of the Diaspora * The Overseas Indians * History and Cultures

Migrations and Cultures: A World View.

This study has several major drawbacks: it describes a situation prior to the adoption of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986); the data cover only Los Angeles; although the methods used for this study are scientifically sound, the repetitive use of various methodologies throughout the text makes reading cumbersome; structurally, the book can be confusing to the reader since there are countless headings, subheadings and sub-subheadings; (for example, within pages 176 and 179 there are ten headings or subheadings; and the pile of statistics makes this source incomprehensible. Despite these drawbacks, Heers detailed study of the Undocumented Mexicans in the United States offers major insights into the complexity of this perennial problem. The author deserves much credit not only for providing factual information, but for providing policy options.